Hidden Journey
by Pikajenn
Summary: Book Three ...Cirrus changes places with Brock's Vulpix in order to save Brock from being killed. But this IS Cirrus so things are bound to go wrong... CH 12 IS UP!
1. Prologue What Dreams May Come

- Hidden Journey -

- Hidden Journey -   
.:.0.:.  
What Dreams May Come

"When I whisper  
your name  
into the sky  
And I will wake up happy."  
--As I Lay Me (Down To Sleep)-- by _Sophie B. Hawkins_

_____________________________________________________________________________

Images. That's all they were...It's all they should be. Ask any scientist, as long as they're not crazy and have dreams of world domination, and they'll probably say that dreams are simply garbage your brain is ridding itself of. Silly little images, emotions, things you see and experience during the day, week, or month. Too bad scientists never say how much those dreams, that brain trash, can hurt.

It's not enough to dream of it, no. That would be too easy. I can _see_ it, flashes of memory, when I close my eyes - even during the day. It feels like a part of me is still _there_...trying to fly Gary to safety. I know I succeeded, but some part of me still can't let go.

And yet, it's not just the images and dreams. Sometimes, when the emotions are strong enough, I can feel the pain...all over again. I can feel the suction of the void, the pain in my back of whatever energy bolt had hit me, and the weight of Gary in my arms.

I haven't told anyone about my dreams. Definately not Gary, of all people. What would he know about bad dreams like this? This reliving of the past...over and over again. A good shrink might say I'm in shock or something. Personally, I wouldn't disagree.

"Cirrus?"

Looking over, I saw Gary staring at me, a hint of worry in his mahogany colored eyes. I flashed him a smile, "What's wrong?"

"That's what I'd like to know." He sat back on the blanket. We were in part of the huge backyard of my parents house. My parents were long gone, that being back in the 'real world.' Matt was conveniently out with his g/f. and Gary and I were alone, having a picnic in the back yard.

"What are you talking about? Are the Games getting you stressed out or something?" Gary was participating in some League Games this week. Some sort of League Qualification Trials thing. "Because if they are..."

"No, that's not bothering me in the least," He sniffed disdainfully. "What I want to know is why you look like something out of a horror movie."

My temper flared, "What I would give for a handy mallet about now."

"Heh, that's a little bit better."

Just like Gary to be totally not worried about impending bodily harm. "You have a point in this dialogue somewhere, right?"

"Of course," He flicked a hand through his hair, "I always do."

"And it would be..."

"It would be that I've watched my vibrant girlfriend slowly vegetate for the past week and a half," He frowned at my glare, "Uh-uh, it's true. You haven't eaten much, you barely get out of this house, and Matt has told me you're up at all hours of the night. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" He stood up, forcing me to get up from the blanket. Grabbing me by the shoulders, he guided me in the house and upstairs.

I grinned, "Why Gary, this is all so...so sudden!"

"Sudden my ass," He snorted, "I want to show you something."

"Really," My tone was dry, "You're so romantic."

"Get over yourself!" He said forcefully, shoving me into the bathroom. Flicking on the lightswitch, he had me stand in front of the mirror. "Have you even looked at yourself lately?"

"No, I'm not as arrogant as you are."

"Cirrus, please," Gary hugged me carefully, "I'm scared for you. You have to tell me what's going on." He turned me about, forcing me to look in the mirror.

The girl in the mirror didn't look much like me. The silky blond strands looked dry, the eyes weren't as bright as they had been. Her face was gaunt and there were dark circles under the golden eyes. I flushed in embarasment and turned away from the haunted looking girl.

"Those dreams..."

"Dreams?"

"I can't get rid of them...I..they just replay over and over again," I buried my face in his broad chest, gripping at his soft black shirt, and breathed in the soft scent of his cologne. "It's like I can't leave that place. I feel like I'm trapped there."

"Dreams...Cirrus, why didn't you tell someone? Why didn't you tell me?"

"What, and have you think I was crazy?" I turned my head, looking at the mirror. The image I saw could've been romantic, save for one thing. Me. I closed my eyes. "I couldn't.._can't_...bear the thought of loosing you."

"Why would you think that?" Gary asked, confusion in his voice.

I opened my eyes and he tipped my chin up, catching my gaze with his. "Because I'm not good enough for you." I couldn't keep the winsome tone from my voice, and I couldn't keep the tears that welled up from falling. "Because you deserve someone better than me."

"Well, that's impossible then," He looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes, "Because there's no one better than you. I'd be quite alone without you."

"Ooh, stop that!"

"Stop what?"

"That..that twinkle thing."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Why because?"

_Because you make me weak in the knees. Because my heart starts to beat faster than a Pidgeot can fly. Because it makes me as senseless as a Psyduck. But most of all, because I love you for it..._ But I said nothing.

"Aah, Cirrus," He smiled tenderly at me, "When you look at me with those big, golden eyes I just melt."

I opened my mouth to retort, but found I couldn't. Gary had taken advantage of my silence to knock me sensless with first one, then two kisses. He captured my lower lip in a tender kiss, drawing back and releasing me. 

Studying me, he held me close and began to kiss away my tears. Starting from my chin, he darted little kisses up the left side of my face to my closed eyes. My body tingled as if shocked by a Pikachu and my heartbeat flew as he caught my lips in several kisses. I dragged my hands through his hair as the kisses deepend.

He broke away and began on the right side of my face. I giggled as he drew one hand through my hair and felt the other pressed against the small of my back, pulling me closer to him. He had just gotten to my cheek when we heard a sudden... 

_____________________________________________________________________________

_**Teaser**_: 

Oh no!! Who caught Cirrus and Gary in such an interesting moment? It sure wasn't Mew, that's for sure!

_**A.N.**_: 

Hey, wow, I'm back! Y'all knew I wouldn't leave everyone with that bully of a cliffhanger from Neojourney so I had to leave you with THIS one!!

I know, I'm just terrible. So, what do you think of the newest chapter in the newest saga I've written? Keep it or trash it? Regardless of the vote tally, I'll keep on writing.

Sexy male and female operators are standing by to take your call!! Call Now and:

Press 1 now to Keep It.  
Press 2 now to Trash It.  
Press 3 now to hear 'Mmm-Bop' on repeat.

Votes will be tallied and results will be in next Friday. No, I'm not going to post a new chapter every Friday. That was just too...difficult. I'm very scatterbrained. Saaay, no comments on that! See ya!


	2. Chapter One Bacchaelism!

- Hidden Journey -

- Hidden Journey -   
.:.1.:.  
Bacchaelism!

"Thanks for comin' out tonight.  
You coulda been anywhere in the world, but you're here with me.  
I appreciate that..."  
-- H to the Izzo -- by _Jay-Z_

_____________________________________________________________________________

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 8th wonder of the world  
The flow o' the century...oh it's timeless...  
  
  
"_Cirrus!_" The voice was shocked, horrified, and totally my brother's.

We untangled ourselves and I turned around to see Matt, standing in the hallway just outside the bathroom, staring at me with wide eyes. His jaw had all but hit the floor. We all just stood there, in uncomfortable silence, until another voice broke the stillness.

"Matt? Where are you?" It had to be Celerity, Matt's g/f of the moment. It sounded like she was at the foot of the stairs.

Matt called out, "Up here, Cee. I'll be down in a moment."

Because a moment was all he needed to extend his Big Brother Authoritah. I was so going to get the smack-down for this one.

"Just what did you think you were doing?" Matt's voice took on the Dad Tone. "I almost expect to have had to pay to see that. You're only seventeen, not to mention you almost died two weeks ago. You just shouldn't be doing...stuff like that."

I crossed my arms and sighed, "I know, Matt, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

Twin snorts of _Whatever_ answered my statement.

"Fine, so I'm feeling a little down at the moment." I walked out of the bathroom, brushing past my brother. "I'm going to freshen up. Don't kill each other, okay?"

_____________________________________________________________________________

Most fortunately my brother and my boyfriend did not kill each other. It was actually most comforting, and disturbing, to find them talking together in the living room. I had taken a quick shower, washing my hair and dressing in fresh clothes. My hair hung in a limp braid down to the middle of my back, slightly damp. As I sat next to Gary on the sofa, Celerity looked at me with a look that was a mix of awe and smugness. How one could manage an expression like that was something that was quick becoming a Celerity Thing.

Why was everyone suddenly looking at me as if...Oh no...I got up, ducked into the kitchen, and checked. Phew, well, it wasn't that my fly was down, cuz it wasn't. So what was the big deal? I made a show of getting a glass of soda and flounced back into the living room. I sipped at the soda, grew uncomfortable in the uncomfortably growing silence, and then asked, "What's the big deal, guys? What's going on?"

Matt smiled, "Leave it to you to grab the bull by the horns."

Gary looked uncomfortable, "I was talking to Matt about the...job...you have coming up."

I rolled my eyes, _Great choice of words, dear boyfriend. Sheesh, you make me sound like a..._

"Ooooh!!" Celerity squealed, shocking me so that I nearly dropped my soda. "Your first job, oh you must be so excited!! Why, I remember my first job when I was your age..." She sat back, looking dreamily at the ceiling.

_My age?? She _is _my age,_ I sighed and sipped my soda. _Or at least very near my age, anyhoo._

Poor Matt looked so embarassed. He ran a hand nervously through his thick blond hair and suddenly stood up. "Um, Cee, shouldn't we be leaving soon? We'll miss our reservations at _Le Ché Pidgé_."

"Oh, of course!" Celerity tittered, holding out her hand for Matt to take. "Silly old me, reminiscing about the past!"

Matt helped "silly old" Celerity up, and the two walked for the front door. "Remember, no silly stuff, sister dear!" Matt's voice floated back to us as the door closed gently behind them. Gary and I sat still, relaxing in the calm after Hurricane Celerity, until we heard the car pull away.

Gary blinked, "That was..."

"...disturbing to say the least." I finished and shook my head. "She is really, really strange and coming from me, you know she's really strange. Really."

"Uh-huh."

_____________________________________________________________________________

So what did we do after Matt left with Celerity? Well, I kicked his ass in a swiftly beaten N-64 competition. You wanna know the title of the game? It was _Pokémon Stadium 2_. I don't know where Matt got the N-64 at, probably from the 'real' world. I'm just glad it works here.

"Thank you, Quila!" I smirked as I blew a kiss to the Typhlosion on the screen. She was triumphantly the last Pokémon standing, triumphant over Gary's Eevee.

"Noooo!" He moaned, hanging his head in sorrow, "I can't believe I lost to two girls...I could never live this down if someone had been watching." He sat up, a happier look on his face. "Good thing no one was around!"

_"What? Don't I count?"_ The now familiar chiming voice echoed around us.

"Can I not go a day withouth that Mew hanging around?" Gary looked exasperated, "And no, I don't think she can count, or she would know that two is company and THREE is a crowd."

Silver glimmers announced Mew's arrival and she appeared as they vanished. A happy look on her face, she giggled. _"Aww, poor Mr. Raging Hormones, did I ruin a moment?"_

I shrugged, "Only if opening a can of whoop ass counts. No, not really."

Mew shrugged too, _"Great, because the news I bring isn't good. I should thank you for the good news you gave me on whooping his Ass in a Pokemon Battle, but you may not like me for the news I have to give you."_

Gary muttered something and left the room. I frowned as I heard him go upstairs. "What's wrong with him?"

Mew smiled, _"Don't worry about him. He will be okay."_ A soft look edged her bright blue eyes, _"Cirrus, I hate to have to tell you that the exchange date has been moved up."_

"What! Why?" I shook my head, "I'm not ready yet. I still haven't found out some important things about Vulpix...about even looking like a normal one."

_"Cirrus..."_

"Like bathing. How do you give a Vulpix a bath? Wouldn't the water make it faint?"

_"SHUT UP!!"_ Mew's voice thundered through me, freezing me in place. _"You will be given all the instructions you need when you make the change!"_

"Oh." I said, a bit sullen. "You didn't have to yell at me."

_"I'm sorry."_

I paused, thinking, "When will I have to change with her?"

_"Tomorrow afternoon."_ Mew glared at me when I started to groan. _"Brock is leaving for Goldenrod City tomorrow afternoon and you have to be within three feet of Vulpix to make the change."_

"What about her Pokeball? I'll need to not be in it if I'm to keep Brock alive."

_"Of course,"_ Mew waved dismissively, _"That's not a problem and I can take care of it. Maybe he'll lose it or it will break and be unrepairable for a month."_

"Yippie ki yay," I sighed, still thinking of loose ends, "Um, what about Vulpix herself? She can't get into total trouble in my body, can she?"

_"What do you mean?"_

"What if she tries running off and telling Brock that we switched? It's not like he wouldn't believe her."

_"I'll keep an eye on her,"_ Mew paused, sneezing cutely, then sniffling. _"Sorry about that."_

"Bless you," I frowned, "You aren't catching a cold, are you?"

_"Well, I have been feeling a bit achey, but I should be ok...o..o...ACHOO!!!"_ More sniffles, _"I should be okay."_

"But you should see Nurse Joy.."

_"No! No doctors or nurses. Too much thinking about mind erasing makes my head hurt."_ Mew started to vanish, her voice always the last to disappear. _"I'll be back for you around 4 or so tomorrow afternoon. And no trying to hide to buy more time for kissey face because I can find you any...an...ACHOOOOO!! ::sniffle:: Anywhere."_ And then nothing.

I sent a small, "Bless you," after Mew, and went upstairs to find Gary. I needed to talk to him badly.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_**Teaser**_: 

I'm sorry this was so short, but I've been totally busy this week. I know I spelled Bacchaelism wrong. I did find it in the dictionary, but now I can't find the dictionary. I should just use spell check, but I'm lazy. Just what is Bacchaelism and why did I write it as a title? Well, those Game Show Channel commercials, and anyone who has seen one knows what I mean, have just gotten to me. Don't ask, just read on. Um...I should be able to write more pretty soon, it will all get better. I'm talking about plot *you mean there _is_ one?*, the amount of times I post new chapters, and things in general. If there's anyone who wants me to email them when new chapters come out, drop me a line by accessing my email addy in my profile page. At least that still works. I don't get reviews in my email box anymore. That sux.

Right, next chapter:

Cirrus meets Vulpix for the first time in weeks. The last time she met with the little Fire Fox, things went badly. So badly, that y'all never even read about it. Vulpix, that saucy little wench, is gonna give Gary and Matt the toughest times of their lives. As for Cirrus, let's just say that she finds out how cramped a Pokeball can get. As for Mew, let's just say that a Powerful Psychic Pokemon with a cold can be a not good thing for our star. 


	3. Chapter Two Often Imitated, but Never D...

- Hidden Journey -

- Hidden Journey -   
.:.2.:.  
Often Imitated, but Never Duplicated...

"I do, I wonder if you feel the same way I do.  
I can see it in your eyes, I entice you."  
-- I Do -- by _Toya_

_____________________________________________________________________________

"Gary?" I called out when I reached the upper hallway. "Where are you?"

"Is Mew gone?" His voice came from my room.

"Yeah," I said, reaching my bedroom door. The door was wide open and I peered in. Gary was laying on my bed, which is in a very bad Fung Shui position in that it points feet first to the door, with his arms crossed under his head. He was staring intently at the ceiling. "What are you doing?"

"Thinking," He answered, still staring up. "I heard what she told you."

"Oh." I walked over, my arms crossed over my chest. "Are you mad?"

He looked at me, his eyes slightly reddened, and my heart went out to him. "No, not at you, at least."

"I don't think this is going to be as easy as I think it is," I said as I sat on the bed next to him. "Vulpix doesn't exactly like me."

"You've met her?" Gary pulled me close to him and I sighed contentedly. "I've heard Ash say that she's a bit...spoiled."

I snorted, "There's the understatement of the century. Mew had teleported her to my room a few days ago and things went a bit askew..."

_...begin random flashback sequence..._

Looking down at my dresser, I contemplated running a brush through my hair and nixed the idea, settling for pulling the unruly mess into a ponytail. I would have to get my hair cut if I wanted a less time consuming style. Why am I rambling about my stupid hair???

A sudden growling had me turning around very slowly, and I was glad I shut my bedroom door, because there was a very pissy looking Vulpix glaring at me. If looks could kill, I'd be three month old road kill. I wasn't sure what to do, but luckily, Mew popped in and saved me.

_"Cirrus meet Vulpix, Vulpix meet Cirrus!"_ Mew sounded pretty pleased with herself.

In answer, Vulpix blasted an Ember attack at me. I shrieked and ducked, and the attack hit my dresser, setting the whole thing ablaze. "Holy Shit!!" I screamed, knowing that shit was no where near holy, and went to snatch a sheet from my bed, only Vulpix was blocking me and I froze.

Mew flew into action, sufficating the flames with a TK bubble, and then glaring at Vulpix, who merely sat down and smiled, wrapping her tails around her forefeet, like a cat. She yawned, showing very sharp teeth, and narrowed her brown/black eyes. "Vul pix," she said, sticking her snout in the air and looking away.

Mew gritted her teeth and apologized to me, _"I'm sorry, Cirrus, I had no idea she'd be such a brat."_

Vulpix glared at Mew, "Pix! Vul pi vu!"

I looked at Mew, "Translation?"

_"I'll just let you in on the conversation."_ Mew's eyes started to glow blue and suddenly, I could understand Vulpix perfectly. Uh, a little too perfectly.

_"I am NOT a brat and there's no way I'm letting this...this HUMAN into my body and getting near my Trainer."_ More snooty snout in the air showing. _"Not getting NEAR my Trainer at all! Besides, I have a show to attend in Blackthorne and I know I will win."_

The smell of the charred wood was really stinking up my room and I opened the window to let fresh air in. Luckily, Matt was fully engrossed in his N-64, though I knew he was getting his ass whooped on by Celerity. "What do you have against me, Vulpix?"

_"Besides your bad grooming habits? Everything."_ She snorted, _"Just looking at that nasty fur of yours is making my stomach churn. Just thinking about inhabiting your body makes me even sicker."_ And she swayed for the sake of overacting.

"For a fox, you're really catty. No offense, Mew." I sat on my green and white directors chair and rubbed at my left temple. Vulpix was giving me such a headache. "But listen, I didn't ask Mew to bring you here so you could insult me or destroy my home," I sobbed inwardly at the thought of my ruined containers of M.A.C. eyeshadow. I had JUST bought the silver shade. "I wanted to thank you for this disturbance in your little life."

Vulpix stopped glaring at me. _"Well, I suppose I could slum for a while, and let you live the high life for a time. A SHORT time."_

Resisting a snappy comeback to the short line, I struggled to smile. "Great, all you have to do is be me for a month. It shouldn't be that hard. Mew will keep you in line so you don't destroy my reputation..."

_"What reputation?"_ Vulpix muttered.

Ignoring her, and ignoring Mew's silent giggling (she was amusing herself with juggling small TK bubbles), I went on, "That means no chasing guys, no stealing, no killing, no terrorizing my brother, no selling of my things, and no getting close with Gary."

Vulpix blinked and cocked her head to the side, _"I can understand the first ten million requests, though the no chasing should be hard to deal with, but a girlfriend not being close, even _ intimate_, with her boyfriend? Wouldn't people wonder if you two were....breaking up?"_

"Trust me, there's no one that would think that." I stood up, feeling better, despite the ruined way overpriced makeup. "No one at all."

_"We'll see about that."_

...end of flashy backflash sequence...

"Don't worry about Vulpix, Cirrus," Gary said, hugging me gently, "I won't let her hurt our relationship."

We snuggled for a while, a little kissing, more talking, until Gary said, "I want to bring our relationship to the next level."

"What?"

"Well, this is your last night with me. Don't you want to make it...interesting?" He wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

I laughed, slapped his shoulders, and made to get up, but he pulled me back down. "Gary! I'll be gone for only a month! It's not like you won't see me." I yawned, we'd been talking for an hour and it was already nearing eleven at night. "Besides, being bf/gf doesn't mean a free ride whenever you want it. I mean...::yawn::...I'll miss you too." I hugged him, laying my chin on his chest and looking up at him.

"I guess I can respect that," Gary's mouth quirked.

Smiling, I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes. I'd rest for a little, then take another shower. I smiled at the rapid beating of his heart.

"I'd wait forever for you." He yawned. "But you have to spend the night with me anyway," He looked down. "Typical of you to fall asleep when the mood is the most romantic."

_____________________________________________________________________________

I woke up the next morning to bathroom deja vu. A shrill, horrified screech of "_Cirrus!_" rang in my ears. My eyes flew open to see my wrathful bro standing in the doorway of my room, his eyes ablaze with rightous brotherly anger.

"Whaa?" I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Th..tha..tha.._that_!" Matt shrilled again, pointing a finger. "What is THAT doing with you?"

Wide awake, heart thumping, I turned slightly to see Gary, sound asleep on the bed next to me. For a twin sized bed, Gary was very close to me. He snored once and turned on his side, away from me, dragging a blanket over his head. I sighed in relief, half-expecting to see some sort of giant spider. "Izzat all?"

Okay, so I was half-alseep still and it didn't dawn on me. Seeing Matt storm over, yank _all_ the blankets away, had me _WIDE AWAKE_!

"Matt! Are you NUTS!!" I shrieked, "We didn't do _anything!_"

*besides, we were fully dressed*

"Doesn't look like it to me."

Suddenly, Mew teleported in, sparkles and glitter flashing all around her. _"She's telling the truth,"_ Mew sighed dejectedly, then sneezed, _"It was as boring as watching bread-dough rise."_

"What is this?" Matt reached out a hand to see if Mew was real. He poked her gently in the tummy, and Mew giggled like the Pillsbury Dough Boy and let out a cutsie, high-pitched, "Mew!," which was followed by a trio of sneezes.

"C'mon, bro," I sighed, annoyed at Mew's remark. We were NOT a boring couple. "That's Mew, the incredibly rare, soon to be extinct, telepathic Pokemon."

_"You forgot incredibly congested with sinus-itisis..."_

I sighed, not acknowledging her psychic mutterings.

"Oh, right." Matt looked confused still. There was a long pause, broken by a snore from Gary's direction. I popped a pillow over his head, which only slightly lessoned the next rackus snore.

Mew was further introducing herself to Matt, hovering in the air by him, and showing off her credentials. _"I'm the President of the Official Gary Oak Elimination Organization, where all members know how annoying the Arrogant One is. Wanna be a member?"_

"I...sure..."

_"I'm in luv," _She vanished and reappeared by me, _"Can I keep him Mom? Huh, huh, can I?"_

I rolled my eyes and sighed at another muffled snore from my side.

::snore::

_"He'd make a GREAT Snorlax..."_

"MEW!!!" I warned.

_____________________________________________________________________________

We had lunch at a nice café in Viridian, Gary and I. There were lots of café in the Pokémon world. I didn't tell Gary about this mornings events though; some things were better left unsaid.

After lunch, which was totally delish, we flew over to Saffron City and went shopping. See, the ultimate sacrifice for any male, and Gary was doing it for me! Whatta guy. I peered up at the tall store, the sight of it reminding me of some of the bigger department stores in the downtown of my home dimension. People were buzzing in and out, packages galore. It was as if it were a...

"Sale day! Get your Sale Day coupons here!" A loud voice proclaimed. Okay, so it was a Sale Day, where most things were up to 60% off. Unfortnately it wasn't Princess Day, but I guess I'd experience that sooner or later. At any rate, we strolled in to the large department store.

The scents of different perfumes and colognes assulted us, along with the sales people that were selling them. After running a veriable gauntlet of sales personnel (I bought a bottle of Riph Lark's Romantic), Gary took me up to the third floor. I had thought there would be lots of Pokemon stuff here, but it was the jewelry/electronics floor. I love electronics!

To my surprise, Gary steered me over to the Jewelry side of the floor. He had me stand next to a display of earings, while he got a sales person's attention. I frowned and crossed my arms. Just what were we doing here?

The sales person, a young man that looked about 30, nodded at Gary and walked away. Gary turned back to me with a grin on his face. "I can't wait to see your face!"

Deciding to be a smart ass, I said, "You already are!"

"No, Cirrus! This is special!" He took my hands in his, "See, there's this big convention in two months. There is going to be a ball and everything. I had this gift specially crafted for you and I was going to give it to you in three weeks."

The salesman came back then, a wide box in his hands. With a nod, the salesman left.

"This is it."

_____________________________________________________________________________

The necklace he had made for me was extravagantly gorgeous. The necklace was really hard to describe. A delicate platnium chain held diamond and ruby 'beads' that alternated until they reached the a y-shaped pendant. The pendant that hung from the center of the y was a perfectly round ruby the size of a cherry tomato. The whole piece sparkled in the department store's overhead lights and I could only imagine what it looked like in natural light.

"Gary," I breathed, "This..this is so..incredible!"

"Fire and ice! Just like us," He laughed as he placed it around my neck. It looked so out of place resting over my black tank top. "One, you are so worth it, and two, someone owed me a huge favor."

"Will this be all, sir?" The salesman asked.

Gary nodded, "How about wrapping this up for us." Gently he took the necklace back, giving it to the clerk. A few minutes later, it was back in its box, and we left the store. Gary told me he was having it sent back to Pallet, to wait for my return.

"It'll be safest with Gramps," He nodded, one arm firmly around my waist. "Best place in the world to store anything."

Suddenly, someone ran into us from behind and we all fell to the ground. Well, Gary remained standing, and the stranger and I fell to the ground. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

_**A.N.**_: A ruby the size of a cherry tomato?? What was I thinking? Sheesh, okay so I'm not all that imaginitive when it comes to jewelery..Riight.

Let's see, so who was the person that bumped into Cirrus? That's right, you don't know, but it will be revealed in the next chapter. Why is Mew sick? Because I'm sick. I hate stuffy noses that run like Niagra Falls and I hate it when said nose keeps me up all night long. I need more Dayquil.

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER:

Cirrus finds out who bumped into her. Team Rocket might make an appearance. Plot thickens. Cirrus trades spaces with Vulpix. Insanity Ensues. 


	4. Chapter Three I Will Stand By You Forev...

- Hidden Journey -

- Hidden Journey -   
.:.3.:.  
I will stand by you forever

"Start a fight   
I can't defend  
One more time  
Dammit, I changed again."  
-- Dammit, I changed again -- by _Offspring_

_____________________________________________________________________________

"You again!" A female voice sounded shocked. "We bump into each other at the most inoppertune times."

Gary helped me up and I resisted an urge to reassure my now sore behind that I wouldn't fall again. I looked at the direction of the voice, unable to keep the pissed off tone from my own voice, as I replied to the haughty person, "Well if you would LOOK where you're running to, this might not have happened!" Then I realized who I was talking to.

The girl flicked a strand of long purple hair away from deep brown, almost black, eyes, and she smiled, a secret little smile. "I suppose you want me to apologize to you?"

Making it look like I was deciding upon a hard decision, I shook my head, "Nah, not worth my time. Let's go, Gary."

"Ah-ah," The girl snagged Gary's arm, holding us back. "Why don't you introduce us first."

Glaring daggers at her, I growled out a short, "Gary meet my rival, rival, meet Gary, my _boyfriend_."

She arched a thin purple brow, the perfect crescent shape I despised, "Oh really? How _did_ someone like Cirrus snag someone like you?"

Gary seemed speechless, something that stressed me out in a stellar major way, and I grabbed his arm away from her iron grip, "We have a _time_ limit, dearest."

"What? Oh, right," Gary smiled at my rival. "Sorry, I.." _TUG!!_ "..We have to go now.."

I glared at the girl as we walked away, but it wasn't enough to escape her voice as she silkily called out, "Sakura! My name is Sakura Messenger!"

_____________________________________________________________________________

We finally made it to some peace and quiet, and that's when I attempted to get in contact with Mew. I called out to her four times before her disconnected voice called out, _"Thanks for calling Mew's Hotline! Unfortunately, I'm either out cold with a cold, or I'm out chasing that silly human, Cirrus. Cirrus, if this is you, just leave a message and I might get back to you. Everyone else, just press Star 69..."_ There was a beeping noise and I froze for a second before Gary poked me in the back.

"Um, Mew, you're supposed to be here, meeting us in Saffron City!! I don't know where you are, but you'd better get your pink behind over here soon! Time is almost up, and if that happens I'll just tag along with Brock, no matter how much he doesn't like it."

There was a second beeping noise, followed by a, _"YOU MAY START YOUR MESSAGE NOW..."_ and then there was a beep.

"Crap," I muttered, as I started over again.

We waited for another half-hour before with still no sign of Mew. I had been betting that Brock would be here early, though if he was with Ash and Misty, they might make him late. You know how good their sense of direction is. Or how bad...sheesh. "I guess we just sit here and wait," I said, breaking our stillness, while sitting under a broad leafy tree. "I mean, if Mew can't do it, who else could?"

_"So I am the proverbial chopped liver?"_ The cool voice was one I hadn't heard in a while; one I never thought I'd hear again.

"Mewtwo?!" I lept to my feet, looking around, "Where are you?"

In a flash of blue light, the tall clone appeared, _"Cirrus."_

"Mewtwo!"

_"Gary Oak."_ Mewtwo sniffed disdainfully. He never really liked Gary.

"Gee, what an entrance!" Gary said snidely, "Taking lessons from Mew?"

_"No, vice versa actually,"_ Mewtwo's cool appraising glance turned to me, _"I believe we have a schedule to keep to."_

I giggled to myself. Mewtwo sounded like that Hammond guy from _Jurassic Park_. The way he said "**shh**edule" instead of the usual "**sked**ule." Heehee...um...they were both looking at me and frowning. "Hee! I digressed!"

They both rolled their eyes; Mewtwo was the first to recover, _"Celebi will be here shortly."_

"Celebi?" Gary looked confused, "What's that?"

"Yeah, why can't you do the transfer?" I was getting nervous, "I mean, I could just go as myself and..."

_"NO!"_ Mewtwo Glared at me, _"You need to be as inconspicuous as possible, thusly you MUST be Brock's Vulpix."_

Gary stood close to me, one arm protectively around my waist. "You didn't need to be so rude."

_"And you don't need to be so human. How about a nice..."_

"Mewtwo!" I gasped, "He is no to be harmed in ANY way, do I make myself clear?!"

_"Crystal,"_ He muttered.

I shivered at a suddenly chill breeze and Gary pulled me closer. 

Without warning, a small form appeared by Mewtwo's shoulder, hovering sideways. It sat up straight and yawned. Looking to be only about a foot or two tall (if standing on solid ground), it was various shades of green, and sort of faerie-like in appearance. Or maybe more Marvin Martian. It was freaking me out, and it spoke in a telepathic voice.

_"Hullo, Mewtwo."_ The voice was smooth and melodious. _"Is this the human?"_ Celebi's eyes were an odd Mew-blue shade.

I gulped nervously. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

We walked to the train station, Gary, Mewtwo, and me; Celebi hovered between Gary and Mewtwo, and it looked like both Pokémon were having a silent conversation. Things were very strange feeling with both of the rare creatures totally invisible to other eyes, thanks to Celebi. As we stepped inside the train station, Celebi began to talk to me. She told me I would have to get Vulpix to let me pet her, to transfer the two of us. She would get Vulpix out of the Pokeball (and in a good mood), the rest was up to me.

Though the station was crowded, Gary spotted Brock at the second platform. The Pewter City Gym Leader was trying (and apparantly succeeding) in flirting with a pretty girl. Vulpix, on the other hand, looked bored to tears, and was sitting at his feet. Neither had seen us yet.

I grabbed Gary's hand, forcing him to stop, much to the consternation of those following too closely behind. I pulled Gary behind a wide decorative support column. "Listen, Gary, make sure Vulpix doesn't do anything crazy, y'know, while she's where she's at."

"Naturally!" Gary smiled, "You know I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Well, to your body...hmmm..."

"Gary! Please, be serious here!!" I grinned up at him, "Je veux vous aimer pour toujours."

"What?" He was confused again. "What did you say?"

"What did you think I said?"

"I don't know, but it sounded nice. I hope it was nice." He ducked his head down so that we were forehead to forehead. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you more."

"Nuh-uh, I will."

"You wish," I went to put a luv-kiss on his nose, but he moved and I ended up kissing him full on the lips instead. I giggled, and kissed him tenderly, but went no further than that when Mewtwo separated us.

_"Children! I am shocked!"_ Mewtwo didn't look shocked, or concerned. He looked very satisfied in separating us. _"Cirrus, I believe Vulpix has seen you."_ Celebi giggled, hovering near Mewtwo. She reminded me a lot of Mew.

I peaked around the column and, sure enough, Vulpix was attempting to herd her Trainer away from the Pretty Girl, as well as us. Luckily, Brock ignored her.

"Let's go," I said, stepping out into the crowd, towards my final destination.

"Brock!" Gary yelled out from my side, "Hey, Brock!"

Reluctantly, Brock looked over and saw us. I saw Vulpix sigh and sink to the ground. I did feel bad for her, I really did, since I knew she must not want this to happen as much as me.

_"It'll all be over soon,"_ Mewtwo said gently, _"You'll both be okay."_

The girl was walking away, but after leaving her number and saying, "Call me!" as she left.

Brock was then distracted by Gary (something about Gym Troubles that couldn't wait for Brocks return), as I crouched down, and stared at Vulpix. Her red-brown eyes were full of anger and her tails were lashing like a cat's (for you non-cat lovers, that would be a NOT good sign).

Celebi appeared to the two of us, standing on the ground. She simply radiated power.

Vulpix was shocked by the strange Pokémon's appearance. "Vuu..." She breathed.

_"Yes,"_ Celebi said softly, _"Now, Cirrus, do what I told you. Vulpix...kitsue...you must relax."_

I reached out tentatively, both hands with a slight tremble in them, and rubbed gently behind both fuzzy ears. At first, the fire fox rumbled out a growl, but I felt her begin to relax. Her eyes closed, and Celebi said, _"Now, close your eyes, Cirrus."_

The last thing I saw was a sea-green glow surrounding the three of us. I closed my eyes and suddenly, _I_ felt hands behind _my_ ears. The scratching stopped and I heard a thump and a muffled, "Oomph!"

I opened my eyes to see...me! It worked! I looked around but didn't see Mewtwo or Celebi. Great, how would I know what to do when time was up? _I guess that's it, for now anyway._

"No, Cirrus," Mewtwo said, his voice echoing in my mind. _"You may not see me, but I'll be keeping an eye on you."_ Then I felt his presence fade and I felt alone...and three feet tall. This was so unshway. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

_**A.N.**_: I've never heard the Offsprings' song _Dammit, I changed again_, but I like most of their other stuff. And the title? Well, if you guessed it's from Enrique Inglesias's _Hero_ song, then you were correct...have a cookie. Wait, what's that? What did Cirrus say to Gary? She said, "I wanna love you forever" in French. No I don't know a lick of French (oooh lala!!) so I used one of those translation pages.

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER:

Cirrus finds out that Trading Spaces is more than a great TLC show, though Vulpix is going to be making a change her neighbour will not like. Confused yet? Great, stay tuned for more! 


	5. Chapter Four Intimate Strangers

- Hidden Journey - 

- Hidden Journey -   
.:.4.:.  
Intimate Strangers

"What's practical  
What's logical  
What the hell  
Who cares."  
-- I'm a Slave 4 U -- by _Britney Sppears_

_____________________________________________________________________________

I watched Gary be the concerned boyfriend as he rushed to my..._Vulpix's_ side, and help her up. Boy, I am cute!

"Are you...okay?" He asked, frowning as if trying to see if I was me or not.

It was most shocking to see my mouth open and hear my voice rudely snap, "Of course, you imbecile!"

Brock rushed over too, scooping me into his arms. I almost melted! Brock has nice arms! Then he said, "I'm sorry, Cirrus. Did Vulpix bite you? She's been really tense lately."

It was like living that episode of Xena, where Xena unvoluntarily switched places with her enemy Callisto. Cuz when it came to talking about herself, Vulpix was all about good promos.

"Oh no!" Vulpix gushed, "Your Vulpix is just so sweet and cute and well behaved," She tripped over thin air, falling into Gary once more, who held her up. "I just got dizzy." She stepped away from Gary, feet spread wide for balance. "How do people stand with no tails?"

"What?!" Brock gasped. I took that to be my cue, and I squirmed to be put down. (It worked for my friend Kari's cat, so why not me?) Brock put me down without question, and I stretched to get a feel for my borrowed body. It was no prob to be back on four paws; Never thought I would be doing this again, but whatever.

I looked up, waaaaay up, to see Gary looking waaaaaay down at me, his eyebrows raised. I winked at him and he relaxed. It was our 'secret' code to let him know I was okay.

Suddenly, the train's p.a. system crackled to life, announcing that trains on Platforms 2, 7, and 12 would be departing in five minutes.

"That's us," Brock said, shaking Gary's hand. "I hope you'll be okay till I get back from Blackthorne."

"I think I'll have my hands full!" Gary smiled.

He didn't look down at me at all, and I felt my stomach twist in knots of nervousness.

"Boy, why didn't anyone tell me how...straggly this hair is?" Vulpix was examining a handfull of long blond strands. My heart caught in my throat...She _wouldn't_!!

Vulpix took Gary by the crook of his arm, leading him away. "Gary, what about stopping off at the salon on the way home?"

_"NOOOO!!!"_ I yipped after her, about to run after them, when I heard the dreaded, "VULPIX, RETURN!"

Red light engulfed me and the last I saw was Vulpix leaning close to Gary as the crowd closed around them.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Being in a Pokeball was not a piece of cake, not mentally, and certainly not physically. I suppose I was in a definate non-corpreal state, but I really didn't want to think about what would happen if I were suddenly in a total corpreal state. I set about thinking about the things I'd have to do in the very near future. Saving Brock's life so that Ash won't go nuts and let the world get destroyed by evil, corporate takeovers.  
  
All in a day's work for me. A hidden day's work, but work none-the-less. I wonder if I could put this on my resume. Saved world as a fire fox pokemon...naah, probably wouldn't be taken the right way. So here I am, floating around as a ball of red energy, in a shrunken sphere that is somewhere on Brock's person.   
  
Riiight. I hope things will get better. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Brock stared out the window, watching the people boarding the train. It looked as if there had been some sort of delay in the boarding process. He hoped things would be underway soon.  
  
"Excuse me," A deep throated voice broke into his thoughts. Brock turned to it with a smile, and quickly tried to hide the sudden grimace as he looked at the woman. He tried not to stare, but she could be easily mistaken for a Snorlax. A dim-witted boy, who looked all of 10, stood by her side, fussing with a McSnackie's bag. "Y..yes?" He managed to choke out.  
  
"We're your seat partners," She said snottily, thrusting her tickets in his face, "Charles prefers the window seat."  
  
"Mommy, mommy, mommy," The boy whined, grabbing onto the hem of her muu-muu with chubby arms, "I toldja my name is Skeeto!! I wanna be called SKEETO!!!"  
  
Brock blinked. _These people are very disturbing._  
  
"Well!" The woman looked at Brock haughtily, mistaking his shocked delay for mental slowness, "Can you understand me?" Each word was pronounced carefully. "Can you understand the words that are coming from my mouth?"  
  
The corner of Brock's mouth twitched, "Yes, I understand. I just haven't been feeling well. Allergies, you know."  
  
"Yes," Sniffle, "Well then. You shall be letting us pass through, now." Brock's gaze flew between the twelve inches between his seat and the back of the seat in front of him and back to the woman's wide girth. He got up, quickly, and scooted out into the aisle, his backpack in his hands.  
  
Charles, er, Skeeto, scuffled his way in, and pounced on the seat Brock vacated, immediately putting sticky, grimey fingers all over the window. The darling boy then proceeded to make faces at the people waiting on the platform outside.  
  
Brock heard a chuckle, and looked to his left to see....a complete vision of loveliness!! A girl that seemed around his age, with teal colored hair and warm chocolate-brown eyes, held a delicate hand to her mouth, to hide her mirth. He almost went into "Pretty Girl Mode," and introduce himself, but a sudden blow to his stomach knocked him over and drove the air from his lungs.  
  
He saw stars as someone helped him up, and resisting the urge to puke his guts out, Brock placed his arm around slender shoulders. The stars faded from his sight and were replaced by the pretty girl in the seat behind him...lots of the same pretty girl.  
  
"Are you okay?" The melodious voice asked.  
  
Brock merely groaned in reply. A sudden popping noise had him looking down to see Vulpix staring up at him, confusion in her eyes. A shadow fell over the fire fox, barely giving her time to leap out of harms way, before a heavy foot came down on something just behind her. Vulpix eeped as she landed on the lap of a passenger across the aisle, but her pokeball wasn't as lucky. Brock cried out, "Stooop!!" but it was too late.  
  
The hefty woman's foot stomped down on the closed pokeball, and the cracking sound was clearly audible in the confines of the train car. The woman merely shuffled her way in the row and squeezed her way into the seat. Then she placed a heavy duffle bag onto her lap, opened it, and proceeded to take out a full course meal.  
  
"No wonder she knocked you down," The whispering feminine voice startled Brock. He'd almost forgotten the girl was there! "I bet she has enough food to feed an army of Snorlaxes."  
  
He looked over to see the girl staring up at him, laughter in her eyes. "...Huh?"  
  
The laughter turned to concern, "Oh, are you okay? Why don't you sit with me?" She gestured to the three empty seats, "I have plenty of room, all three seats are mine." A wicked look came over her. "I book passage with empty seats around me, just in case cute guys like you get hurt!"  
  
_...Just in case?_ Brock let himself be led to the window seat and he sat down, wincing at the pain in his side. Vulpix made herself comfortable in the middle seat, and gazed up at Brock with worry in her brown gaze. Forcing his expression into a cheerfull one, Brock smiled down at the fire fox, "Don't worry, Vulpix! I'm gonna be okay."  
  
Vulpix cocked her head and snorted. "Vul!"  
  
Brock was about to retort when a hand holding a sparking pokeball came into view. He looked up and nearly melted into a puddle at the absolute vision of lovliness that filled his gaze.  
  
"I'm sorry about the pokeball," The girl looked at it doubtfully, "I think you should head to a Pokecenter first thing when we get to Goldenrod."  
  
_We?_  
  
"I'd put it in a bag or something, so the electricity won't hurt you." She turned away, flagging down a steward, "Can I have something to put this in?"  
  
She sat down in the aisle seat, and Brock noticed she wore the fingerless gloves like Ash used to wear, but hers were black and blue. They were now officially two of his favorite colors. He watched as she turned the pokeball over with the palms of her hands, and he could swear he saw the sparking lessen.  
  
"What's this?" She pointed to the etched insignia of the Pewter City Gym on the release button, "Did you get this in Pewter?"  
  
"Sort of," He said, coughing. Damn, how could one blow to the gut leave him so winded? "See, I'm actually..."  
  
"...You're Brock, Pewter City Gym Leader, right?"  
  
"You aren't psychic, are you?" Brock shuddered at the memory of Sabrina and her 'dolls.'  
  
The girl giggled, "No! But I am an avid reader of _Gym Leader Monthly_." She smiled, "I thought it was you at first, but I didn't want to disturb you. I'm sure you've got girls falling all over you!"  
  
Brock regarded himself lucky that he hadn't been eating or drinking anything, because he would've choked for sure. _____________________________________________________________________________________ I laughed inside. Brock had finally found a female to talk to, and it looked like she enjoyed talking to him. The train flew on magnetically, the barest hum of activity from its engines was easily ignored. I was so happy for Brock! They chatted on and on, I had been moved to the window seat, while they gabbed about training and battling tips and stratedgies. --> 

_____________________________________________________________________________

_**A.N.**_: Yay! Brock's getting a girl!! Bout time!!   
  
Okay, I admit, I do like Brit-Brit's Slave song. It's got such a FREAKY backbeat to it. And yes, today's title is from the episode entitled _Intimate Strangers_ from Xena: Warrior Princess. DISCLAIMER!! I OWN NOTHING OF XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS OR ELSE I'D BE RICH AND NOT WRITING FANFICS. Phew that was long. 

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER:

What is Vulpix going to do to Cirrus' look? Will Cirrus do something to Vulpix's look? Will I ever get a new look? All this and MUCH more, coming up next! 


	6. Chapter Five All That Glitters

**

Hidden Journey  
  
Part Five  
  
§  
  
All That Glitters  
  


**   
  
"I wake up evey night,  
to see the state I'm in.  
It's like an endless fight   
I never seem to win."  
  
  
"Where Are You Now" by _Britney Spears_  


***

_~ Pallet Town. Professor Oak's Residence ~_

Gary Oak looked over the edge of the cards held tightly in his hands. One more to go and it would be over for him. He stared up into Cirrus' face, saw the look of determination on it, and he stared at the two cards in her hand. 

Amber eyes flicked at him, and her mouth quirked in an unfamiliar expression of smugness. She knew she had him beat, unless Gary got very lucky.

"Four," He said tightly. At the word, Gary saw her eyes sparkle and he knew he was sunk.

"Go fish," she said, her tone for once light and playful.

With a groan, Gary reached forward and picked up another card. Great, another mismatch.

"Eight," The blond girl said.

Gary sighed, and handed over the lone eight. As soon as the card was in her hands, the girl whooped with delight, dropping all three cards on the table.

"Yes! I win again, Oak boy!" The triumph in her voice was disgusting. "What is that? Five games I won against you? You really should try something you're good at, and this isn't it."

"You're such a snot, Vulpix," Gary said, picking up all of the cards, "Hasn't Brock ever tried teaching you some manners?"

"Brock doesn't need to teach me anything," Vulpix shot back. "I just happen to be very good at the things I do. It's not my fault you're such a loser at 'Go Fish.' "

Gary gritted his teeth. "If it weren't for the fact that Cirrus has to save Brock's ass, I'd be tempted to force Mewtwo to change you guys back."

Vulpix paled, "Don't say that."

"What?"

"Don't say that about Brock! You...you don't know him like I do." She looked troubled. "I can't stand the fact that Cirrus has to do this and not me. Brock is MY Trainer, not hers."

"I know, but don't forget," Gary stretched, "I don't think Cirrus likes this anymore than you do."

"Not like I could forget," Vulpix stretched as well, staring down at her arms. "It was harder to get used to these than I thought. You humans make it look so easy."

Gary laughed, "Don't worry, you've only got a month in that body, and then it's back home for you."

"Thank goodness."

A knock at the door had Gary frowning, "Uh oh, if that's who I think it is..."

"Yo, Oak! Open up!" The voice was loud, male, and unfriendly sounding.

"Oh yay," Vulpix said drily, "It is my brother. Oh hooray."

Gary shook his head as he walked to the front door, opening it to see Cirrus' brother Matt. The older boy was not alone though. Ash and someone Gary couldn't see was with Matt. "Come on in, guys." 

The three walked in to the foyer and Gary eyed the third person suspiciously. The guy looked familiar. "Ash, you mind introducing me to...?"

"Oh man! I'm sorry!" Ash laughed, placing a hand behind his head, "This is AJ, a trainer I met when I first started out on my journey!"

Gary nodded, remembering where he'd seen AJ. It had been in one of Gramps' journals on Trainers. AJ was a tall guy, with brown spikey hair, and piercing mahogany brown eyes. He nodded cooly at Gary and said, "Hello." He had a low voice, with a tone to match the coolness of his attitude.

"I was on my way to pick up Cirrus when I met up with these two," Matt said, running a hand through unruly blond hair, "They were on their way to see you."

"Right, well," Gary led them to the great room, "Vul...Cirrus is in here. We were playing a game."

AJ snickered, "Sure..."

Gary glared at him, but the older boy merely looked at Gary, unaffected by the unspoken threat in Gary's eyes.

When Gary led them into the great room, Vulpix was staring out the window, looking into the inky blackness of the night. As she turned to see them, Gary heard AJ gasp softly, and Gary felt his stomach tighten.

Vulpix had practically forced Gary to take her to the nearest salon. It took a few minutes to explain that she had to go to a human salon and not one for Pokemon. At any rate, Vulpix had a few inches snipped from the waist length curtain of blondness, muttering something about split ends to the stylist. Then she had the woman fix it so that the strands were curled softly, falling to the middle of her back in a cascade of loose curls. 

"Glad to see you finally visited a salon," Matt said jovially. "Geeze, it's been months since you did anything with that rats nest."

"Ash!" Vulpix cried out, sweeping the boy in a fierce hug, "It's been forever since I've seen you!"

Ash looked stunned, but returned the hug, "Good to see you too, Cirrus."

Vulpix stepped back, a flash of hurt in her eyes, "Yeah..."

"Who is this vision of lovliness?" AJ asked, brushing Ash away and sweeping one of Vulpix's hands up in his own. He kissed the back of it. "You are astonishing!"

Vulpix giggled, the first happy sound Gary had heard her make. It had him wondering when he'd heard Cirrus giggle like that, and he realized it had been a long while. He would have to make it up to her.

Ash rushed over to AJ, saying, "That's Cirrus Blaine, AJ. She's Gary's girlfriend!"

Unabashedly, AJ still held on to Vulpix's hand, "Really?"

From the corner of his eye, Gary could see Matt staring at him. "Yeah, really."

"Well then," AJ let go. "I suppose I shall remain single...for the time being."

It irked Gary to see Vulpix looking disappointed. "Yes, how sad." Gary said flatly.

Ash looked at Gary, confusion in his dark gaze.

***

_~ Blackthorne, Kanto Region ~_

One paw in front of the other, down the dirt road, following behind Brock and that girl. I looked up at their backs, looked at their entwined hands, and wondered if he would finally get lucky. I was amazed that he kept his wits about him while he was around this girl. So, what was her name anyway? It's Lia Sario. It sounds like a boring name to me, but who am I to judge anyway.

"Here's the Pokemon Center," Brock said, stopping at the walk to the large center.

"Yeah," the teal haired girl agreed. "You want to go in?"

"Yeah," Brock said, looking incredibly happy. "Then I'll buy lunch."

_Darn,_ I thought. _I was hoping he'd make lunch._

Following them inside, I shivered at the air conditioning. The Center was pretty busy, with a line of about twenty people. Some had pokemon by their side. The smells of cooking food, it was around noon, wove through the air, along with the sounds of chattering voices. 

I looked over to my left and saw a girl and her charmander, and I smiled, remembering the good ole days with me and Flare...er Gary...I sighed. It had been great fun back then. Then I stopped smiling. With all that had happened, it felt like something was desperatly missing, and I didn't know what it was.

Moving forward automatically, Brock and Lia were in line after all, I saw sudden stars when I bumped into something. 

_Owww,_ I whined inwardly, looking up at my bumpee. It was Brock, smiling down at me.

"Poor little Vulpix," He said, crouching down, "You look tired. Do you want me to carry you?"

I rubbed at my muzzle. It _hurt_ to bump that! Then I looked up at him and nodded. I was really tired of all this walking. 

"No, Brock," Lia said, "Let me hold her. I've always wanted a Vulpix." She crouched down too, "Would you mind?"

Blinking, I looked up at her, trying to judge her. I was really wary of strangers, especially since someone was supposed to kill Brock. Weariness wore out and I nodded; it's not like she could kill me.

The girl scooped me up carefully, cautious to not crimp my tails, and tickled me under my chin. Out of some Vulpix reflex, I lifted up my chin. It did feel good. Lia giggled and her warm brown eyes twinkled. "You are a cutie," She said.

Brock smiled and as we slowly, but surely, moved forward, they talked. Mostly it was Lia questioning Brock, but he answered each question. It was good to see him talking to a girl instead of falling all over himself.

"So what are you doing up here?" She asked, scratching absently at my shoulder. "Doing some secret Gym Leader thing?"

That caught my attention and I listened carefully.

"No," Brock laughed, "Nothing like that. I'm up here to enter Vulpix in a Pokemon contest, then I'm going to see an old friend." He leaned forward to whisper something in her ear. I only caught, "Suzie...going back...really happy..."

She smiled at Brock, "That's so sweet! I wish someone would've let me care for a Pokemon like that! You must've really caught her eye for her to do that."

Brock blushed for the first time, "Oh no...It's just that Suzie is...she's..."

"...Someone special?" The tone of Lia's voice was quiet for the first time.

"Well, uh.." Brock stammered, "No..well, she was but now...She's involved with someone now."

"And you wouldn't try to break the relationship?"

"No!" Brock looked stunned. "Why would I do that?"

I looked up at Lia. This would be an important reaction.

She just smiled, a small smile, "That's good, Brock. You're a good person."

I rolled my eyes. 'Such a sweet reaction, I'm getting cavities over here.'

***

_~ Viridian City. Cirrus's house ~_

Matt stared out the window but saw nothing. She was out late again, for the second night in a row! He didn't know where his sister was, but she wasn't with Gary. Matt had called the Pallet Trainer, but he hadn't seen her for the past two days. As for Matt, he'd only seen Cirrus in the late afternoon; she slept till then, only getting up to get ready for going out at night.

Glancing at the grandfather clock in the foyer, Matt grew concerned. It was almost one in the morning and his sister was not home, and not with her boyfriend. He was seriously considering calling the police.

He let the curtain fall and walked over to the small hallway table. A wide brown belt was laying haphazardly on it, six pokeballs attatched to it. It was Cirrus' trainers belt, and her Pokemon were safely inside. Matt fingered the smooth leather, and wondered when she had last let her Pokemon out.

Sighing, Matt wondered why he remained behind, instead of going back with his parents. This world had been good to them, it had resecitated their parents' marriage, and gave Cirrus a lot of confidence. She'd been confident in their world, but it went with a lot of attitude and anger. Matt had lost count of the number of times his little sister had been sent to the pricipals office or had a teacher call home.

Suddenly, one of the Pokeballs rattled and popped open. A white beam of light flared and a small shape formed into a small creature. It looked like an anteater to Matt, but Cirrus had told him repeatedly that it was something called a Cyndaquill. 

The Cyndaquill blinked up at him, and said, "Cynda?"

Matt groaned, "I bet you're hungry."

The small creature nodded.

Matt had been forced to put his dog turned Pokemon to sleep a month ago, and since then he hadn't even wanted to look at another of the creatures. The nurse hadn't been able to say why Cozmik was so sick, but in his heart, Matt knew his old friend just couldn't take the change, and in the end Matt decided it would be the kindest thing to do.

"And I bet all your friends are hungry too."

Another nod, this one more vigerous.

"Just when was the last time you guys have seen Cirrus?" Matt picked up the belt, and walked to the kitchen, the small Pokemon scampering ahead of him.

The Cyndaquill leapt up onto the counter, picked up a blue marker, and wrote something on the dry erase board. With wide eyes, Matt read the message:

"We haven't seen her in a week. We are all hungry. Feed us now, or face the consequences."

"A week?" Matt was astonished, "And how is it that you know how to write?"

The little creature picked up a towel that had been hooked on a towel hook, and wiped away the words. It wrote some more:

"Don't be such a troglodyte. I can write out the Polynumericomaneuristic Quadraticalinine Dyoxyrybonuecleic Equation in five minutes if I wanted to. Writing out that I'm hungry is not difficult."

"Uh..." Matt was flabbergasted. He held out the belt. "What about these other guys?"

::Wipewipe::

"They're hungry too, doubtlessly. Just because we can be fit into those tiny balls does not mean we don't get hungry regularly."

"Do you know what is inside?" Matt looked at the pokeballs dubiously. "I know some Pokemon can be pretty big."

The Cyndaquill rolled its eyes and sighed resignedly.

::Wipewipe::

"There is a Ponyta, Umbreon, and an Espeon/Umbreon mix."

Matt frowned. "But there are six Pokeballs..."

::Wipewipewipe::

"She keeps the extra Pokeballs incase she sees a wild one she likes! You aren't very bright."

"Well you aren't very nice." Matt eyed a Pokeball. "Just how big can that Ponyta be?"

The Cyndaquill stood on its hind legs and stretched a forepaw up.

"Huh, I'm guessing you're including the the floor and up for the height?

A nod.

"Okay, that's not that big then," Matt picked up three Pokeballs, "C'mon out, guys." 

Nothing happened for a second, then the three that were on the counter popped open, and three more Pokemon were staring up at him. Matt glared at the Cyndaquill. "You knew I was holding the two empty Pokeballs?"

The Cyndaquill grinned and laughed.

***

Twenty minutes later, Matt finally figured out what food the different Pokemon wanted. Of all four, only the purple Espeon/Umbreon Pokemon was still eating. The rest had practically wolfed their food down. The Ponyta had recalled itself into its Pokeball, and the rest were patiently listening to Matt. He was talking to them about Cirrus' mysterious behaviour.

"And I'm not sure where she's at now," Matt shrugged. "Gary hasn't even seen her."

The Umbreon looked at its purple counterpart, "Um eon."

The purple pokemon shrugged.

The Cyndaquill wiped at its last statement, then wrote:

"Mystique said Cirrus is about to be dropped off."

Matt and the four Pokemon raced to the foyer, and peeked out the window. Matt was shocked to see AJ get out of a sleek black car and walk around to the passengers side door. The door opened to reveal his sister in a formfitting red dress. AJ helped her out of the car and the two shared a deep kiss.

Matt heard the Pokemon at his feet gasp collectively, and he shared their sentements. Wasn't Cirrus dating Gary?

"Cynda," Cyndaquill murmured, then walked away.

The Pokemon at his feet darted off to the living room, and Matt noticed AJ was now walking Cirrus up to the porch. With a start, Matt dropped the curtain, and walked quickly to the living room. Unfortunatly, he didn't have a pokeball to hide in.

He lay down on the couch, dragging a light blanket over himself, and listened as a key turned in the lock. The door opened, spilling in night air and sounds of murmered talking. The sound of a last lingering kiss was loud in Matts ears, but the door closed, and he heard the sound of a car starting up and loudly leaving a few seconds later.

Heels clicked on the white tiled foyer floor, then paused.

"You can get up now, brother dear," Cirrus' voice rang out. "I know you're here. And awake."

Matt grimaced, but stood up. "Have a nice date?"

Cirrus grinned, "Yes, actually, I did."

"What about Gary?"

She shrugged, "What about him?"

Matt struggled to keep from falling over. "What about him?! He's your boyfriend!"

"No he's not!" Cirrus said firmly. "He's a control freak and a perfectionist, not to mention a vain, arrogant jerk. I don't know what I ever saw in him." She turned to walk up the stairs, "Oh, and you can have my Pokemon. I don't want them anymore."

The sounds of her footsteps faded, and Matt heard her walking upstairs, Mystique and Umbreon close on her heels, then the sound of her bedroom door as it closed gently. In the dark, the blond boy could only stare, frozen by the callous tone of his sisters voice. He heard the sounds of a shower starting, and he dropped to the couch, his mind spinning with what had just happened. He had only one question.

Who was this stranger and what had she done with his sister?

* * *

__

Oh no! What is Vulpix up to? Looks like the fire fox has a lot to answer for, or does she have something in mind? Find out in the next Hidden Journey! 


	7. Chapter Six Secrets Revealed

Hidden Journey **

Hidden Journey  
  
Part Six  
  
§  
  
Secrets Revealed  
  


**"Somebody hit the lights.  
So we can rock it day and night.  
People gettin' down that's right.   
From am to pm."  
"AM to PM" by _Christina Milian_

***

AN: Matt, Cirrus' brother, doesn't know that she and Vulpix switched places. As such, I will be calling Vulpix, Cirrus, whenever she's with Matt. So please, please, don't get too confused!

***

_~Blackthorn, Johto Region~_

I sighed as Brock ran a brush through my thick fur. It had been a week since I changed places with Vulpix and so far nothing had happened. Nothing out of the ordinary and thusly to be considered suspect anyway. Vulpix's Pokeball had been sent to Kurt in Azalea, but he had sent word that it would take him up to a month to get it sent back to Brock in Blackthorne. That would turn out to be some of the better news of this slightly amusing day. 

Why's that? Well, it could be because of a certain Team Rocket that decided to show up. Yup, that's right. Team Rocket as in Jessie, James, and Meowth. It seems that they'd heard of Claire's high level dragon type pokemon and they'd decided it would be in Claire's best intentions if they relieved her of them. So like I said, today was slightly amusing. 

The faint sound of Jessie's mocking laughter caught my attention. With a groan, I perked my ears towards the sound, disrupting Brocks train of thought. Or brushing...whatever. 

Narrowing my eyes, I listened harder, pushing Brocks questions of "What is it?" out of my way. It was then that I heard Claire's voice, calm and cool, but faint. They were a pretty fair hike away from our current location which was in a tree shaded area right outside of the Pokemon Center. I walked off of Brocks lap and onto the wooden slats of the park bench we'd been sitting on and cocked my head. 

Brock stood up, shadowing over me, "What is it, girl? What's wrong?" 

_"Little Timmy fell in the well!"_ I said perkily, looking up at him with shining eyes. 

Alas, his gaze was blank to my sarcasm. A second shadow fell over me, and I looked up to see light brown eyes staring at me. It was Lia, the teal haired trainer Brock met on the magnet train. "What's wrong with your Vulpix?" Her voice was concerned. "It looks like she hears something going on." 

I rolled my eyes and sighed, _"Brock picks a winner everytime."_ Deciding to do the Lassie thing, I leapt off the bench and trotted off a few feet, paused to look back, and go off a little more, look back again. 

"I think she wants us to follow her," Lia said, grabbing Brocks hand, "Let's follow her!" 

_Her intelligence astounds me,_ I thought surly, darting off at a pace the two could follow. Soon enough, we'd reached a clearing just outside of town, and right into the middle of a battle. 

***

_~Viridian City, Kanto Region~_

"How could you do this to him?" Matt asked Cirrus carefully. They were seated in the kitchen, alone and eating breakfast. It was raining hard outside, intermittent flashes of lightning danced around the house. 

"Do what?" his sister asked, munching on an apple. "I simply think it's time to move on to more lush fields. Gary Oak would merely hold me back." 

"From what? He's been declared a Pokemon Master and he's practically a sure shot to be leader of the Viridian City gym." Matt paused to sip some fresh orange juice. "What could be wrong with that?" 

"If you like him so much, why don't you go out with him?" Cirrus narrowed her eyes. "Maybe all that arrogance is hiding a terribly 'sensitive' person." 

"That's so wrong," Matt shook his head. "What has gotten into you?" 

"More like who," Cirrus muttered. Lightning flashed and thunder sounded close behind. 

"What?!" Matt cried out, imagining the worst. "You and AJ haven't..." 

Cirrus burst out laughing, "Oh puh-lease and a half! AJ is very sexy indeed, but I have morals." 

"Then what's wrong with you? You have been acting like a totally different person this past week." Matt frowned, "Ever since you and Gary went to see that Brock guy in Saffron City." 

At the mention of Brock's name, Matt saw his sister's eyes darken in sorrow. He sighed, knowing a look of forlorn love when he saw one. "Have you been dating Brock behind Gary's back?" 

Cirrus' head jerked up, "NO! No, that's not it at all." She looked away, a slight blush on her cheeks, "He and I have a far different relationship than that. Far different." 

Matt started to ask a question when the doorbell rang. Cirrus ran for it, sandles clomping on the tiled kitchen floor, "Sorry, gotta go break someone's heart!" 

Matt watched her go, and muttered, "That's not my sister. I don't know who she is, but she's not Cirrus." 

***

Shivering and wiping at rain-soaked arms, Gary stood outside Cirrus' house, feeling unusually nervous. He didn't know why Vulpix called him and told him to come over, but he had a not good feeling about it. Vulpix had gotten a swift hang onto human things, and the phone was no exception. 

The door opened, revealing Vulpix dressed in something he'd never seen Cirrus wear. A red cropped tank top bared her toned torso and the black hip hugger pants dropped below the belly button. "C'mon in, Soaked Oak," Vulpix sounded tense. "There are still some bagels left." 

Gary followed her, taking off his windbreaker and hanging it on a coatrack, "Did you get your belly button pierced?" 

She didn't pause, but shrugged her shoulders, "Yah, I thought Cirrus could use an interesting change." 

"The hair wasn't enough?" 

"Whatever! This hair was in such bad condition." Vulpix flashed Gary a smile over one bared tanned shoulder, "Now it's strong, shiny, and super healthy." 

"I _liked_ it straight." Gary muttered as they walked into the kitchen. To Gary's surprise, Matt was there, eating an omelette. The older boy nodded slightly at Gary, who nodded back. Gary was further surprised by the calculating look on Matt's face; he was staring at his sister as if he'd never seen her before. 

Which wouldn't be too far from the truth. 

"Bagel?" Vulpix asked, holding out a pre-sliced bagel. 

Gary shook his head, "No, I just want to know why you called me and told me to come over." 

"Oh, that," She put the bagel down, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm dumping you. I found someone new and it's over between us, buh-bye." 

Gary blinked, "What? Is this some sort of a joke?" 

"It's no joke, Oak," Vulpix stared at him, unblinking. "I don't love you, I don't need you. You're holding me back from something I have to do. I won't let an imposter do it for me." 

"You can't be serious," Gary forced his voice to be even, but he heard and hated the slight tremble to it. It was too freaky to think that Vulpix would try to dump him. And seeing her as Cirrus made it a nightmare come true. "And what's more, you can't do this." 

"Yes I can," Vulpix said mockingly, "It's called free-will and I have it." She walked around the center island, and poked him in his chest. "I will go to Blackthorne and rescue him, and if you think you can stop me, well, I'd like to see you try." 

"Blackthorne?" Matt broke in, "Whassup with Blackthorne?" 

"You can't go there," Gary said, ignoring Matt. His anger took over and he talked in his old "Takin' Care of Ash the Loser" tone, "You're practically a baby! You can't even take care of yourself! How do you think you can help Brock?" 

"I..." Vulpix started. 

"You have no powers! You're helpless!" Gary shook his head, "You'd just get in the way and get yourself hurt! You would be a liability and not an asset." 

Tears began to well up in Vulpix's eyes. "But..." 

"Face the truth!" He sneered at her, "You can't help him as you are. In fact, you would probably be the one responsible for getting him killed." 

The tears spilled over and Vulpix rushed past him, shoving him hard, and running for the french doors that went from the kitchen to the back yard. Shoving one open, she ran out into the storm, swiftly disappearing in the darkness. 

"Cirrus!" Matt yelled, running out onto the wide wooden patio. He could barely see her red clad form running into the woods beyond their property. "Come back!" 

Gary stepped out onto the patio, standing behind Matt. "She'll come back." 

Matt didn't turn around, his heart still in his throat. 

"She always does." 

Matt spun around, "What do you mean by that?" Lightning crashed around them. 

Gary raised an eyebrow and spoke cooly, "I mean..." He sighed, "There is a lot for me to tell you." 

Matt folded his arms across his broad chest, "So start talking." 

***

Vulpix crashed through shrubs, the rain lashing her barely clothed form, lightning and thunder roaring around her. She stopped when she reached a clearing, and sank down under a tree, sobbing. 

_It can't be true, it just can't be!_ She thought, looking out at the clearing through tear-filled eyes. _I would never do anything to hurt Brock. I've never been a liability to him._

She sat there, the rain soaking into her pants and top, and she thought long and hard. It was strange to be in a rainstorm and not fear the water that was touching her body. If she could, she'd tell Brock how wonderful it felt. 

Brock. Her Trainer. 

He wasn't in any trouble at the moment, and she could usually always tell when he was. Vulpix knew some Pokemon had a special bond with their Trainers, even if they weren't of the psychic variety. Ash had one with his Pikachu, Misty had one with Togepi, and she knew that Cirrus had one with Umbreon and Mystique. Even Gary had a bond with his Eevee, though she didn't know why the little Pokemon would bond with the arrogant one. 

One and only one of the Pokemon Cirrus trained had truly frightened Vulpix. The cyndaquil that insisted on naming itself Xanady held an imposing aura of maliciousness that the fire fox had never felt before. The cyndaquil was one of the reasons Vulpix gave the lot of Pokemon to Matt; she knew he'd take care of them. 

Mystique and the Umbreon could easily figure out that she wasn't the real Cirrus, and it would only be a matter of time before they would refuse to battle or even come from their Pokeballs. She knew this because she'd done it to Suzie once. Suzie was Vulpix's first Trainer, until the breeder had given her to Brock. 

Vulpix loved Brock, but not in the way that humans loved each other. That would be impossible and it never really entered Vulpix' thoughts. Rather, Vulpix loved Brock for who he was, the whole package. It didn't matter how girl-crazy he got, or how powerful he was as a gym leader. It was the essence of Brock...the being he was, that Vulpix loved. And if he died and she wasn't there to _try_ to protect him, she may as well die anyway. 

Suddenly, she sneezed, and it was then that she realized she didn't know where she was. Vulpix stood up, shivering, and walked around the clearing. Rubbing her arms, she walked across the center of the clearing, to the other side of the clearing. She thought she'd seen something moving, and she called out, "Oak? Is that you?" 

When she got no response, she poked around in the bushes, "Come on out, Oak. I'm ready to go back now." 

A low growling sound had her stepping back into the clearing. From the bushes came a tall, dark, massive shape, and when it stepped out into the clearing after her, Vulpix could see she was in for a whole mess of trouble. 

"Uuurrrsaaa...."

***

_Uh-oh, looks like Vulpix has gotten herself into trouble, cuz I don't think that's Gary! Will she be okay? And what's Team Rocket doing trying to get Claire's Pokemon? All this and more, in the next episode of Hidden Journey!_


	8. Chapter Seven Bold and Fearless

****

Hidden Journey  
Part Seven  
  
§  
  
Bold and Fearless  


"Hello my friend, we meet again  
It's been awhile, where should we begin?"  
"My Sacrifice" by _Creed_

Yah, I know it's definitely been a while. I hope you don't mind the wait, but there have been some technical difficulties for me. Um, on with the show!

***

__

~Blackthorn, Johto Region~

The shrubs had parted before me to reveal Claire tied up and relieved of her Pokeballs. She looked incredibly pissed off. Jessie, James, and Meowth looked triumphant as they leapt into the Meowth-shaped hot-air balloon.

"Some Gym Leader you are!" Jessie chortled, "You couldn't even save your Pokemon!"

Claire's eyes narrowed.

James laughed. "And coming from people like us, is a..."

"It's a disgrace, that's what!" Meowth smirked, hoisting the net-bag that contained Claire's Pokeballs onto his shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James pouted.

"Nothin' Jimmy," Meowth said calmly, "You just make sure everything's where it's supposed to be."

From behind me, I heard Lia and Brock gasp in surprise. I sighed and looked around. Ropes tied Claire to a tree at the edge of the right side of the clearing. The Team Rocket trio was in the balloon in the left side of the clearing. I glanced up at Brock, but he was in the process of looking determinedly at the situation. I shrugged and walked off; I had a plan in mind.

***

__

~Somewhere near Viridian City (I think), Kanto Region~

"Uuurrrsaaa...."

Vulpix gulped and stepped back. What was she supposed to do? Fight off a fully-grown Ursaring all by herself in a powerless body? Gary Oak was right, she _was_ a liability! And to think she'd have gone off to Blackthorne to try to save Brock...

Tears blurred her vision at the thought of her beloved trainer and she wiped hastily at her eyes. It was still raining, but that wouldn't save her. Ursaring didn't have a vulnerability to water like she'd have in her natural state.

What to do, what to do...The Ursaring solved that for her. With a roar that sent shivers of fear through her bones, the giant creature lumbered towards her, razor sharp claws swiping at the air.

Vulpix did something she never had done in her life. She shrieked, turned away, and ran for her life. Bushes and tree branches swiped at her, she was not on any path, but she was making one of her own.

"Urrsaa!" Was the only warning she got before a powerful beam of energy blasted past her, causing her to lunge to the side. The hyper beam tore a wide path through the greenery, the smell of singed wood lingered in her nose. With a yip of fear, she got to her feet and darted away, down the freshly cleared path. Unfortunately, it was easier for the Ursaring to run, too.

***

__

~Still somewhere near Viridian City, Kanto Region~

"So..tell..me..again.." Matt huffed, running after Gary, "Just...what...did...Cirrus...do?"

Gary, who was in much better shape, managed to say, "She's trying to save the world."

"But that...doesn't make any..sense," Matt said, sounding irritated, "Why would she...do that?"

"Because she feels it's up to her, I guess," Gary said. He stopped suddenly at the edge of a large grassy meadow, and Matt wheeled to a halt. "Did you hear that?"

Matt frowned, "No, nothing but my own heart in my ears."

Gary held up a hand for silence, "It sounded like.." A crashing sound came from their left, very close by, "Like that! Let's go!"

Matt followed Gary, watching as the gym leader expanded a Pokeball. With a practiced toss, the ball popped open, and a flash of light reformed into a very large furball.

The tiger-striped firedog howled in welcome, and Matt watched in disbelief as it sat and wagged its tail. "What is that?"

"It's my Arcanine." Gary said, scratching it under its massive jaw. "Innit? Who's my widdle Arcy, huh? Who's my good widdle boy..."

"Enough!" Matt shouted, torn between laughing and thrashing, "We have to find my sister, er, whoever."

Gary smirked, "Don't get you shirt in a bind, we'll find her." And with that he sent the Arcanine ahead of them. The large dog bounded off through the tall grass of the meadow, stopping suddenly as a large white beam of energy shot over the dog's head.

Matt yelped in surprise, instinctively ducking as the beam flew over the boys' heads. "What was that?!"

"Looks like a hyper beam to me," Gary said, frowning, "Which can only mean one thing. And that's one mean thing."

"Which is...?"

Gary fixed Matt with a tense look, "Ursaring."

"Ursa-what?"

"Imagine for a moment, if you will, the largest bear you can. Imagine it with long, razor sharp claws, a mean attitude, and enough power to bring down a mountain." Gary turned back to look over the meadow, squinting into the direction the hyper beam had come from. "That is what we're dealing with."

"Great, let's go." Matt said, walking off after the Arcanine. "Unless you're chicken."

"I am not!" Gary glowered, running after Matt. "You are."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Not!"

"TOO!

"URSAAAA!!!!"

"Um, Gary is that what you were talking about?" Matt pointed behind Gary.

Gary spun around, nearly face-to-face with an angry Ursaring. "Yup!" he squeaked out. There was a momentary pause, then Gary spun back around and began to run, shouting out, "Arcanine!!! Fire Blast!!"

The Arcanine leapt around, blasting out the fiery command. The attack hit the Ursaring dead on, k.o.'ing the bear-like Pokemon. Then the Arcanine turned and ran after Gary and Matt.

With a well-practiced move, Gary leapt onto the large firedog's back, motioned for Matt to join him. After a split-second's decision, Matt joined Gary, and the trio started to run towards a stand of trees ahead.

A sudden shrill scream from their right had them plotting a new direction.

"Vulpix!" Gary said that at the same time Matt said, "Cirrus!"

"Arcanine, follow that scream!" Gary said, gripping at the thick fur for support, "We have one more person to pick up!" 

***

__

~Blackthorn, Johto Region~

The shrubs parted before me to reveal the tree and Claire. I sneaked out and made my way to the ropes. Hoping my borrowed set of choppers would be strong enough, I started to bite at them. Claire made a little gasp and looked back, but the Team Rocket trio didn't notice.

"What are you doing?" She sounded a bit confused and I thought I smelled something sweet in the air around her. "Oh, good! Keep it up!"

The ropes were really nasty, like um, the worst kind of macaroni or something. I stood back, looking at my handiwork. Though a little frayed, it was nowhere near close to setting the Blackthorne gym leader free. I thought about a fire attack to burn through the ropes, when I heard a familiar voice shouting.

"Hold on, Team Rocket!" It was Brock! What was he thinking! _Was_ he thinking?! "You aren't going to steal her Pokemon! We won't let you!" 

"That's right!" Lia exclaimed, holding out a Pokeball. "Go, Neuron!" 

Peeking around the tree, I saw the white light fade, revealing a Porygon. I had always wanted one of those.

"Neuron, Tackle Meowth!" Lia yelled out. The small Pokemon floated into the air and tackled Meowth. 

Jessie ducked into the basket, pulling James in with her. Meowth had just gotten to the basket when the Porygon hit him, knocking him to the ground. Claire's Pokeballs scattered on the ground, freed from the net Meowth had used to contain them.

James peeked over the basket, saw the spilled Pokéballs, and shrieked, "Meowth! Get those Pokeballs!"

But the little cat Pokemon just sat against the basket, apparently knocked out. With a growl, Jessie plucked the small cat up and tossed him into the basket. "James, get those Pokeballs!"

"Not a chance!" Lia looked incredibly confident. "Zap Cannon!"

"Shows what she knows!" Jessie smirked. "Porygon can't learn Zap Cannon! That's an electrical attack, and Porygon is Normal."

"Actually, Porygon can learn Zap Cannon," Brock said, nodding. "After it reaches Level 44, it can learn it."

The little mechanical Pokemon began to power up, little sparks of electricity danced around it.

Grinning, I sat back. This Porygon would take care of everything. And it did. About three seconds later, Team Rocket was once again blasting off, arcing across the sky like a shooting star. 

Brock ran over to Claire, and seemed surprised to see me. "What are you doing over here, Vulpix?"

"This is your Pokemon?" Claire asked. "It had been trying to chew through the ropes. I'm not sure what good it would have done, but I'm grateful that it tried."

"Me too, but Vulpix you shouldn't run off like that!" Brock said as he untied Claire. "You could've gotten hurt!"

__

Yes Mom, I thought sourly. _Sorry I tried to save the day._

"Such an Ash Complex!" Brock smiled. He helped Claire up, steadying the tall gym leader when she faultered.

"Thank you," She said, straightening. "You're Brock right? From Pewter?"

"Yes," Brock smiled, "I haven't been to any of the cross-region meetings. It's nice to meet you."

"Despite the circumstances!" Claire grinned, "Oh, my Pokemon!" 

Lia walked over, Porygon hovering near her. "These are yours. They don't look like they've been damaged."

"Thank you," Claire said, taking the pokeballs. "I'll take them to Nurse Joy right away."

The older woman began to walk away, then turned back. "Why don't the two of you stop by my gym? I'd like to thank you properly."

"Thank you," Lia said, "We will!"

Claire walked off, and Lia stared at Brock. "You know what this means?"

"Uh, no." Brock said. "What?"

"Shopping, of course! I've got nothing to wear to a gym leaders gym!" She grabbed Brock by the arm. "Let's go!"

I watched the two go and sighed. Then I grimaced and spat out a mouthful of rope fibers. _Gross. _I thought. _The things I do for love._

***

__

~Viridian City, Kanto Region~

Dishes rattled in the Blaine kitchen as Gary Oak looked for a plate. Staring at him expectantly was Vulpix, currently in his girlfriend Cirrus' body. She was sitting at the center island, and waiting for a snack. A snack he was expected to make.

The trio had escaped all Ursaring threat quite easily with Gary's Arcanine. They had to k.o. the Ursaring that was tailing Vulpix, and once they got back, Matt called Officer Jenny. The policewoman promised to send over a small squad to take the bear Pokemon into custody, and relocate them.

Matt then decided to go to the grocery store to buy more food, and had left Gary alone with Vulpix. Matt knew a bit more than he should have, but didn't know the full story. And that was how Gary wanted it to be. The fewer people that knew the full story, the more of a chance Cirrus would stay under cover.

"Are you gonna be much longer?" Vulpix complained, "I'm hungry!"

"It's almost done," Gary said, staring down at the roiling noodles. "The cheese is ready, and the noodles are just about done." The timer went off then, and Gary strained the large pot of curved noodles. He placed the pot back on the stove, and turned off the flame. He left the cheese on a low flame, and stirred it. It smelled heavenly!

"Hungry!"

"I'm coming!" Gary glared at the noodles, and then piled some on a plate, and slathered some cheese on top. He walked over to the island, and set the plate in front of Vulpix.

She took one look at it, and said, "More macaroni!"

Gary shrugged, took the plate back, and piled on more noodles. Then he took the plate back.

Vulpix pushed the noodles around, "More cheese!"

Gary sighed, but took it back, slathered on more cheese, and placed it back on the island.

"Less macaroni!"

Gary's eye twitched, but he did as asked, and placed the plate back.

"Less cheese!"

The twitch grew stronger.

"More macaroni _and_ cheese!"

Gary growled, but placed equal amounts of macaroni and cheese on the plate, and set it in front of Vulpix.

With a sniff of disdain, Vulpix sent the plate flying. "I hate macaroni and cheese."

***

__

Boy that Vulpix is a trip! Now that Claire is safe, what's going to go on? After that macaroni and cheese fiasco, will Vulpix be safe? All this and more, next!


	9. Chapter Eight Unwelcome Discovery

****

Hidden Journey  
Part Eight  
  
§  
  
Unwelcome Discovery

"Take your shirt off  
Swish it 'round yo head  
Spin it like a helicopter."  
"Raise Up" by _Petey Pablo_

Eye-catching lyrics, I know. It's my song of the week. Please, kids, listen to it with the bass up. Resist the treble movement.

***

__

~Blackthorn, Johto Region~

After a quick clean up in their separate rooms at the small hotel, Brock and Lia went to see Claire. When I had made a move to follow, Brock stood between me and the door, and told me I was to stay behind. The door closed softly behind him and I heard the click of the lock. I was torn between being desperately angry and dejected. I had to be with Brock at all times; that was my mission! The whole purpose of me being here was to practically become his shadow! You can't lock your shadow in your hotel room, and I had no intention of staying here.

So I padded around the room, looking for a way out. Of course, when you're like two feet tall, everything is an obstacle. I pounced on the queen-sized bed for a better look around my surroundings. Dresser, wardrobe, tv, bathroom, closet, nasty pink curtains, window, air-conditioning unit, nightstands…Waitasec, the window was open!

Darting over, I stood on my hind legs to see that the window was indeed swung wide out, and better yet it didn't have a screen. I would've grinned if I could've, but I settled for a quick, low-volume yip of happiness. Then I noticed that I was two floors above the ground. A wind blew suddenly and the window shivered on its hinges. 

No problem, really. It's not like I hadn't done this before. Okay, so I had Ponyta waiting for me below, but you know, there are shrubs and stuff. I'm sure one of those will cushion my fall. There was a tall tree near the window, conveniently extending long branches towards the hotel's windows. 

__

A convenience that is scarily convenient. I thought to myself as I leapt onto the windowsill. _But I'm not gonna be choosy. After all, beggars that are choosers have a hard time selling their glass houses._

It was mid-afternoon, and people were around, doing their things: Shopping, milling about, some doing the tourist thing. There was one woman that had two young boys by her side. I noticed they were twins that were identical right down to the clothes on their backs and the Pichu's by their side. They were also being difficult for their mother. 

Luckily, no one had the presence of mind to pay attention to a Vulpix that was about to leap onto a thick tree branch in an attempt to escape confinement. And leap I did, like a cat, onto the relative safety of the aforementioned thick tree branch. I cheered my braveness and sat on the branch to scratch an itch on the back of my neck with one long hind leg. It was then that I noticed, being two feet tall, just how far down things looked. 

The wind that had been unnoticed when I was in the room, made itself noticed as I was on the tree branch. It was stiff and a bit cold, and ruffled my fur. I looked to the distance, where the ice caves were, and wondered if Articuno made his summer home up there. 

A sudden sharp gust of wind had me squinting my eyes shut against flying dirt and leaves, and my heart sank when I heard the slam of a window. I opened my eyes to see that the window to Brock's room was closed. The edge of one pink curtain was jutting out and fluttering in the wind like a trapped butterfree.

__

Um, crap. I thought with a scowl. Now what was I supposed to do? I looked down at the various, yet thinner, branches and decided I had two options. First would be to wait for Brock and Lia to return and rescue me, and hope that they would return soon. Second would be to jump down into the shrubs and/or jump from branch to branch to the ground. 

Neither option looked any good, but I really had no choice. I'd have to take my chances and try to make it to the ground in one fully functional piece. Sigh.

***

__

~ Blaine Residence, Viridian City, Kanto Region ~

"I can't believe you were so rude!" Matt sighed. "Even if he's someone you don't like, can you please try to like him?"

"No," Vulpix said flatly. "If I don't like him, why should I pretend to like him?"

Matt and Vulpix-in-Cirrus'-body were sitting in the living room, watching the tv. An older episode of Trading Spaces was on, and dinner was nearly ready. Matt could hear A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste, fondly known as Mime-ster, bustling around in the kitchen.

"What is the clown preparing for dinner?" Vulpix asked, not taking her eyes off the tv.

Matt shook his head. It would take time to get used to this presence. "Some bacon cheddar casserole thing. It's Cirrus' favorite."

"How considerate."

There was a pause between them, broken only by the sounds of arguing from the show. From the corner of his eye, Matt looked over at his sister's form. It was hard to believe that Cirrus had changed places with a pokemon, and that the pokemon in question was currently residing in his sisters' body. 

"What's it like?" He finally asked.

"It looks like puce," Vulpix said, cringing at the sight of the paint chosen to be slathed over the fireplace on tv. "I'd sue."

"No," Matt said, chosing his next words carefully. "What is it like…being a pokemon?"

She looked over at him, "What's it like…being a human?"

"Do you have to answer a question with a question?"

"Do you have to ask such stupid questions?"

"Okay, I'm sorry." Matt relented, "It's just that I never thought it would be possible to be talking to a fire breathing fox."

"Well you're not." Vulpix said. "You're talking to the spirit of a fire fox, who is currently living in your sisters body."

"Boy, you're snappy."

"It's not like I'm happy!" Vulpix shot back. "My Trainer, who I've known for years after my original Trainer gave me to him, is in mortal danger, and I'm sitting on a couch watching television! I don't have my powers, I'm miserable, I have to pretend an obnoxious jerk is my mate, and to top it off, I can't protect my Trainer!"

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think you have to worry about Gary that much," Matt said. "He said he was going to go to be in Pallet for a few days to help out his Grandfather with some research."

Vulpix didn't say anything and, after a few minutes, Matt decided to go outside and leave the displaced Pokemon alone. It was warm out, and the sun was still pretty high up in the sky. Taking a seat on the wide steps of the front porch, Matt sat and thought on the past few days. After the Ursaring episode, Gary had told Vulpix that he told Matt what was going on. A shared look had been exchanged between Gary and Vulpix that made Matt think there was something that he hadn't been told.

What he had been told was this: His sister had, by a mysterious lab experiment of Professor Oak's that had gone awry, switched places with Vulpix. The only way to switch back would be to find Bill, some pokemon expert and genius scientist, who happened to be vacationing in Blackthorne. In the meanwhile, Matt and Gary were to coach Vulpix on how to be Cirrus, and watch out for her general well being. If it got out into the public about what happened, it could be disastrous for Professor Oak.

And so, things seemed to smooth over. Vulpix settled down a bit, Gary relented on the boyfriend/girlfriend part, and Matt finally had a clue as to what was going on. He was glad he'd stayed behind for his little sister, and he was even happier that the Oak boy was held at bay. Due to some feeling about Gary, Matt wasn't too fond of him as a boyfriend for his little baby sister. Unfortunately, Cirrus was probably going to be pretty angry when she got back in her own body. 

It wasn't the belly piercing, which would have been nominal. It was the hair that Cirrus might flip out about. Not that it was curled, because it wasn't. It was straight again, and still blond (Vulpix had wanted to dye it firefox red), but it was its length that Cirrus would not be pleased about. Thanks to a random Ursaring hyper beam attack, the right portion of the long hair had been singed to just below the shoulder. As such, the hair had to be evened out, and that meant that Cirrus now had considerably shorter hair.

And to put the icing on the cake was the vid-phone call from Hades. Vulpix and Cirrus both were clueless about that, but Matt wasn't. It had been his girlfriend, Celerity. Her news hadn't been good, at least not for Matt. She had called to break up with him! Even if Cirrus was here, Matt knew she wouldn't be broken up about her big brother being dumped. Cirrus liked Celerity as much as Matt liked Gary. 

"Matt?" The word was tentatively spoken. 

He turned around to face the speaker. It was Vulpix. "Yah?"

"The, ah, casserole is done. The clown said to come in and eat before it gets cold." Vulpix shrugged. "I don't know why you humans insist on cooking everything."

"Because we like not being sick from improperly prepared foods?"

Vulpix made a face. "It ruins the flavor."

Matt shook his head. "Whatever. Let's go eat." He opened the screen door for Vulpix, who stepped inside the house. "Say, do you mean to tell me you can understand what Mime-ster says?"

"What _did_ I tell you about stupid questions?"

_~Blackthorn, Johto Region~_

I didn't do it. I _couldn't _do it! How could I even come up with an idea like jumping down into a shrub? It was stupid! Geeze…and now I'm stuck up in a stupid tree, and it's freaking cold, and I'm hungry! Plus I was getting tired of sitting carefully on this tree branch. Not to mean tired like I'm bored tired, but tired as in getting weary tired. I decided to sing a little song, to help me think.

__

"Oh, what would that clone Mewtwo do, if he were here today? He'd fly his behind to the ground really fast and be safe and not harmed in any way, that's what that clone Mewtwo would do…" I nodded, pleased with the lyrics. Sure the song was a definate sign that I'd seen the _South Park_ movie too many times, but I'm freakin' cold right here.

__

"So maybe you'd like to have a lift down to floor level?" The melodious telepathic voice sounded very much amused.

__

"MEWTWO!!!" I shrieked out, looking all around. Unfortunately, I lost my balance and began to fall. I yelped in surprise as I was 'caught' in a barely noticeable blue bubble of telekinetic energy. I was gently lowered to the ground and landed on all fours. 

"Mommie, mommie!" A little girl tugged at the hem of her mother's dress. "That Vulpix just flew! Buy it for me, pwease!"

The mother rolled her eyes and led her little girl away. The little girl pouted, but waved to me as she was led away.

Suddenly I was tugged by an invisible force into a small thicket that lay just beside my escape tree. Mewtwo was hovering in the middle of the little clearing, sitting with his legs tucked beneath him. He looked down at me with a calm gaze and shook his head. _"Cirrus, what have you been doing? Or should I ask, not doing?"_

"What do you mean by that?" I asked back. _"I'm doing the best I can to get to Brock and keep him safe. I almost got walked on by that huge woman on the train, and just now I fell out of that tree. It's not my fault I can't reach the doorknob. I doubt I could have opened the door even if I _could_ reach the stupid knob."_

"That song was most infuriating." Mewtwo just stared down and frowned when I shrugged. _"At any rate, things are about to take the turn towards the future we want to avoid."_

"What? How?"

"Please, give me a second to explain! You have very little time to waste." He paused and the continued. _"Brock wasn't supposed to meet Lia, but he did thanks to you. Claire was supposed to have all her Pokemon stolen from her, but didn't thanks to Lia. Now Brock is supposed to meet an unsavory character, one who could keep the future we want to prevent from happening to happen."_

"What is this…unsavory character…supposed to do?" This was all precious information I desperately needed. _"Does he shoot Brock, kidnap him, or something?"_

"He forces Brock into a battle."

I frowned. _"I…that doesn't make sense. Why force him into a match? Does he know Brock is a gym leader? Did he face Brock for the Boulder Badge and lose?"_

"Simply because Brock accidentally walks into him." Mewtwo said. _"It would have happened even if Brock didn't meet Lia, or if Claire's Pokemon were stolen. It is an unalterable part of any future that may have happened. A scenario, if you will, that could be cataclysmic." _

"I need to find Brock." I thought for a second. _"Do I need to keep Brock from fighting or what?"_

"That's what we do not know."

"And where is he?"

Mewtwo closed his eyes, then opened them. _"He is three blocks down, nearing the Pokemart. Move fast because the catalyst is nearby as well."_

With a word of thanks, I sped from the shrubs and into the streets. Following Mewtwo's directions made finding Brock a lot easier than me trying to do it by myself. Rounding a corner, I saw Brock standing in front of Lia, and gesturing to a scrawny guy that looked as if he hadn't bathed in weeks. The closer I got, the worse the guy looked. His scraggly brown hair was grimy looking, his cheeks were sunken in, and he just had this aura of darkness around him.

When I got behind Brock, I was blown away by the guys' stench. How could Brock have not smelled him? I looked up at Lia, who was turned to the side to hold a hand to her mouth, and I brushed up against her. She looked down, a look of surprise on her face, and smiled. Then she gestured with her eyes to the smelly guy. 

Looking up, I saw his eyes were reddened messes that could have been a brilliant green at one time. His voice was a complete contrast to his appearance. It was a light voice, one that could have been quite pleasant if the guy didn't look like a homicidal maniac. "You think you can just apologize for almost knocking me to the ground? What kind of an idiot do you think I am? You _wanted_ to knock me over! You had it in for me!!"

"No, please," Brock pleaded. "I just came around the corner and…"

"I challenge you!" The man said, "I challenge you to a battle!"

"Brock!" Lia gasped, "You can't fight him!"

"Aww, being protected by your girlfriend? You are _weak_, man!" The man laughed, then clutched his head with both hands and growled in pain. He dug in his pants pockets and brought out a small white bag. He reached in and took out something that was a pale purple color, and popped it in his mouth. A moment later, he laughed and put the bag back in his pocket. "You ready to fight or not!"

"Not!" A new voice suddenly called out. A woman stepped from the doorway of a building, handcuffs glinting in the sunlight. "You are under arrest!"

The man shrieked and ran off, only to be stopped by three policemen. Officer Jenny ran over to the captured man and snapped the handcuffs around his wrists. Then she dug into the pocket with the bag and pulled the bag out. Turning it over in her hands, she pointed to two small red letters. A T and an R. "This is an illegal substance, and all the proof I need to have you sent to Cianwood Rehab. But first you'll be doing some jail time for trying to battle a gym leader outside of his league." She nodded to her subordinates and they walked him to a waiting police car.

Brock paled when Officer Jenny turned to him. "I wasn't going to fight him, and I certainly wouldn't have presented a badge to him and…"

Officer Jenny simply smiled. "Don't worry, I wouldn't place _you_ under arrest! I was watching the three of you and only waited until he did what he did. I've been waiting for an opportunity like this to come around."

It was then that Brock seemed to forget Lia's presence and he launched directly into "Pretty Girl Mode." His eyes glazed over and he said, "I've been waiting for a girl like you to come around for a long time…"

Unfortunately, there was no Misty to drag him away by his ear. I noticed Lia looking a bit bemused, and I decided to end this current PGM with a simple nip to his ankle. I stepped back as he jerked away with an exclamation that won't be repeated here, and looked up at him with a gaze of innocence. Brock just laughed and shook his head. 

Lia had more intelligent things to say to Officer Jenny. "What opportunity was that, Officer?"

Officer Jenny's gaze turned serious, she had been laughing at Brock's 'antics,' and she said, "There has been a case of an illegal substance going around Blackthorne for about a month now. I needed to catch someone in the act of using it, and to therefore get a physical sample of the substance." She showed them the bag. "And these initials might also mean something."

__

Yah, like Team Rocket. I thought to myself.

"Could that stand for Team Rocket?" Brock asked, mirroring my thoughts. "That could be something they would do."

Officer Jenny nodded. "That's true. First things first, I have to get this analyzed." She walked away with a wave of thanks.

* * *

__

What could that strange substance be? What's going to happen next? One thing's for sure, Brock hasn't gone beyond having Pretty Girl Moments. 


	10. Chapter Nine No Worries Here

****

Hidden Journey  
Part Nine  
  
§  
  
No Worries Here

"I'm supergirl  
And I'm here to  
Save the world  
And I wanna know  
Who's gonna save me."  
"Supergirl" by _Krystal_

Later that night, Brock found himself in for a delightful surprise. No, Lia did not beg for him to marry her. Ash turned up in Blackthorne, without Misty, and met Brock in the Blackthorne _Starmiebucks_. Neither of the two good friends had known the other would be in Blackthorne as Brock had left a month prior to go back to Pewter to visit with his family.

"It's really good to see you again, Ash!" Brock exclaimed, clasping the younger man in a quick hug.

"Brock, good to see you too," Ash said, smiling, "But you've only been gone a month. You were planning on joining Misty and me again, weren't you?"

"Of course," Brock said, sipping his latte. "I've missed the two of you. How's Misty doing?"

Ash shrugged, "Same as when you left. She's a little bummed though."

"How's that?"

"We were in Viridian last week and she saw a young girl with a Togepi." Ash shuddered at the mention of the little Pokemon.

"How could that be?" Brock asked. "I thought she had the only known Togepi."

"Don't remind me," Ash said. "I wish it were true. Looks like there are more around than we thought."

"What's a Togepi?" A new voice broke in.

The two young men turned around in their chairs to see two people. One was Lia, who Brock greeted most enthusiastically, and the other was a slender girl with shoulder-length hair so black that it glinted blue. "Who's your friend, Lia?"

Lia smiled over at the girl by her side. "This is Celerity Sighine. She's my best friend."

§

Naturally through all this I had been, once again, locked up in the hotel room. This time I had Lia's Porygon to keep me company. Not that it was very talkative.

I sat beside the bed and looked at the Porygon, who was currently hovering in front of the television, bobbing up and down slightly like a one of those floating things in a bay. A boo-something. Anyway, the Pokemon was just staring at the television. I suppose that PNN was more interesting than the static it had been watching previously.

The anchorwoman smiled at the camera before launching into her next story. "In Blackthorne today, a suspect was apprehended for having an illegal substance…"

That caught my attention.

"The name of the suspect will not be released by authorities, but they have stated that the young man will be getting the medical attention he needs." She smiled perkily. "The substance that he had been taken was not like any other drug seen before. The Blackthorne Police have released a statement that the substance is actually a lab manufactured version of rare candy."

_Curious_, I thought to myself. _And just who in Team Rocket made such a substance, and why? What would the reason be for that? Probably money, like the drugs in my dimension. There doesn't seem to be any form of drug abuse here. Unfortunately it looks like someone wants to fix that. Someone, like me, needs to stop it._

Somehow, I almost wished that I could talk to Xanady. She might know something about this, or maybe not. Maybe this came after her time with Team Rocket. Still, she would know if the effects on humans would be dangerous. Or maybe the drug wasn't supposed to be used on humans at all. What if this lab manufactured rare candy was supposed to be for Pokemon after all.

Rare candy was supposed to up a Pokemon's level by one, but if there was a form of rare candy that could up it by three or even five points at a time, then it would be possible to have a high level Pokemon in no time. Especially if there was a near endless supply of that rare candy. And if Team Rocket was passing it out around Blackthorne's seedier residents as an experiment instead of experimenting on their own lab Pokemon...

__

This could be really dangerous. There's no telling what this could do to Pokemon. With a yawn, I laid my head down on my paws and closed my eyes. Someone, probably definately me, would have to try to find out what was going on. _Not like it's any different from what I usually do. Oh what I'd give for a normal type vacation. I don't think I've had one of those in ages._

Sometimes it's rough to be the one to save the world. How does Ash put up with it?

§

Familiar laughing woke me from my sleep. I looked around groggily to see that Lia's Porygon was still hovering, but it looked to be asleep, and the lights and tv were still on. It was the seemingly sudden appearance of people that surprised me. 

Brock and Lia had guests. 

They were gathered around a table just a few feet from me in the "living room" section of the hotel room. Lifting my head, I could see Lia and Brock facing me, and two people with their backs to me. One was a girl and she was sitting next to Ash and had shoulder length black hair and was wearing a blue dress. She seemed familiar to me.

"Brock, tell Cel about you marvelous cooking!" Lia said with a smile. She reached over to grasp the mystery girls' hand. "Cel, this man cooks like he's a professional!"

Brock blushed and looked like he would faint, but Lia's hand on his had him perked up. "Oh, well, it's nothing really. I just love cooking a whole bunch."

"Oh, Brock," The newcomer said in a purr. "You must let me sample some of you culinary skills!"

Uh...right. I sat up, trying to think of who this person was and why she seemed so familiar.

"Vulpix!" Brock said suddenly.

__

No, that's not her name. That's who I am. I thought with a frown. _Huh? Oh, duh, that _is _me!_

All attention turned to me and I could finally see who the mystery girl was. It was Celerity, Matt's girlfriend. 

What?

I cocked my head to the side, trying to figure out the reasoning for this. Did Matt send her here to get something? Nah, that doesn't make sense, even to me. Did she break up with Matt? That would make me incredibly happy, but still wouldn't make sense as to why she was here. 

Oh well, I guess she's just here because she's here. And so was Ash.

Huh.

"Oh, what a cute Pokemon you have, Brock." Celerity said. "May I pet her?"

"She's not really the petting kind of Pokemon, Celerity." Brock said. "But if she doesn't mind..."

Oh, I minded all right.

Celerity bounded over to me and crouched down. I sat on my haunches and looked up into her green eyes. Her face was friendly and happy, but her eyes spoke another story. One of maliciousness.

It was hard to hold still while she petted the top of my head. You know, hard not to bite her, but I didn't want to become infected with Celerity oogies. Celerity awwed at how soft my fur was and then stood up. 

"Brock, you take such good care of him!" Celerity cooed.

"Vulpix is a girl Pokemon..." Ash said.

"That's nice," Celerity said. "So, about this food you make?"

That reminded me of how long ago it had been since I ate. I trotted over to Brock and looked up at him with a feed me look. 

"Huh? Oh, Vulpix! How could I have forgotten!" Brock slapped his forehead. "I can't believe it. Can you hang on a moment?"

I shrugged. I'd have to wait anyway and since it was only nearing _ten o'clock _in the evening, can you believe it...

It wasn't long of a wait, not with Brock the speedy cook. He whipped out a small dish and poured in a Vulpix amount of Vulpix-fomulated Pokechow. Then he put a small yellow placemat on the ground, put a small dish of water in the upper corner, and then put the small dish of food in the center of the placemat.

Okay, so it looks very unappetizing, but the taste was totally delish. What's it taste like? Oh well, something like a mix of the best cheeseburger you've ever tasted, a nice juicy steak, and a slight tinge of jalepeno.

Hey, firefox food. It's gotta be somewhat spicey! Made me wish I had nachos though.

"Ooh, what do we have here!" Celerity was right over my shoulder, peering down at my dinner. I would've growled, but I'm not gonna be impolite. That's Celerity's thing.

"Brock, do you think you could let Cel try some?" Lia asked, staring up at Brock with puppydog eyes. "Pwease?"

"I...I...Sure, I guess." Brock shrugged and turned back to his magical backpack and pulled out a small Tupperware type dish. He opened the lid and gave Lia a few pellets. The teal haired girl kept one for herself and gave the one to Celerity.

"Want one, Ash?" Lia asked. When the dark haired Trainer shook his head, Lia shrugged.

With grins, the two girls ate the food. After a few seconds of chewing, there were twin squeals of delight.

"Brock this is magnificent!" Celerity cried out. "You could make a fortune with this food!"

"She's right, Brock." Lia agreed. "Have you ever thought of marketing this food? Open a store?"

Brock looked astonished. "Uh, well..."

"Brock's not really the kind who want's to make money from his food," Ash broke in. "Isn't that right, Brock?"

"Yeah, that's totally right," Brock said, relief crossing his features. "Um, I don't really want to open a store."

"What?" Celerity looked surprised. "Think of all the money you could make! You'd have a monopoly on the whole market! No one could resist your food!"

"Oh, uh, well..."

"Where's Matt, Celerity?" Ash asked.

"Matt? Why would you ask that, Ash?" Celerity looked pale.

"Well he is your boyfriend, isn't he?" Ash looked closely at Celerity.

"Yes, he is and I love him dearly." Celerity said. "I left him and Cirrus all tied up."

There was a pause. 

"What do you mean by that?" Lia asked sharply. 

"I mean, I left them all tied up...playing a video game." Celerity laughed half-heartedly. "You know how those siblings love playing video games. And with that new big-screen tv as well. Cirrus was so enthusiastic about it all!"

"Was Gary there?" Ash asked.

"What is this, twenty questions?" Celerity laughed again. A tinkling laugh I remembered well. "No, Gary wasn't there."

"Why not? He is Cirrus' girlfriend." Brock looked curious. "I know he likes video games, too."

"No, Brock," Ash waved to his friend, "That's me. Gary hates video games."

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Brock sighed. "Gary's a tight ass."

Lia laughed. "Oh, he was probably out looking for someone to battle. I've heard of Gary Oak."

"Actually, you're _all_ wrong." Celerity said as she inspected her nail polish. It was gold colored. "Gary went back to his grandfather's place because he was depressed."

"That doesn't make sense." Ash frowned. "Why would Gary be depressed?"

"Because Cirrus dumped him." Celerity looked up.

__

The hell I did! I almost choked on a piece of chow. _And Vulpix wouldn't be stupid enough to dump him either._

"No way!" Ash gasped. "She wouldn't..."

"Actually, yes she did." Celerity said. "It seems that Cirrus found out that Gary was seeing a few other girls behind her back. She told him that it didn't really matter because she had been seeing AJ behind Gary's back."

Ash whistled, "Wow. That's intense."

"What is, Ash?" Lia asked.

"Well it happened the day you left, Brock. I had gone over to Viridian to try to find Gary. I thought he might be at Cirrus' house so I drove over. On the way I had to stop at a gas station and I bumped into AJ." He paused and took a sip of his soda. "I offered him a drive to Viridian since he was going to stop there for the night on his way to Indigo Plateau. We stopped at Cirrus' house and he practically fell head over heels for Cirrus."

"So what happened then?" Brock said.

"That's all I really saw," Ash said. "But later on Gary did tell me that he hadn't seen Cirrus in several days, and that she didn't return any of his calls or want to see him."

"Sounds to me like she was about to break up with him," Lia said softly. She shook her head. "Poor guy."

"Poor guy!" Brock laughed. "Gary's like a Persian. He always lands on his feet."

I sat back, thinking carefully. _There's no way that Vulpix would dump Gary, no matter how much she hates him. Something fishy is going on here, or else my name is Mariah Carey...and it's not._

§

In a wooden shanty just outside of Viridian City, Matt and Vulpix were tied up back to back. Their wrists and ankles had been bound as well. Their abductor had tied bandanas around their mouths as gags, but Matt managed to slip his off.

"Vulpix, are you okay?" Matt asked, concerned. He had just come to, and with the exception of sore wrists and a headache, he felt okay. There was no response from Vulpix and that left Matt a bit concerned. They were sitting on chairs and Matt's felt a little shaky.

He looked around as best as he could. The room was about twelve feet by ten, with wooden floors, walls, and ceiling. There was a fireplace on one wall, a window on another, and a door on a third. There was no furniture of any kind, save for a rickety looking table that only had three legs. Dust covered a great deal of the room.

The window was a double-hung sash and all of the glass panels were intact. That was lucky as it was currently raining out. Unfortunately, their chairs were positioned under a small hole in the roof, and Matt was getting dripped on.

"Vulpix!" He called out again, jiggling his shoulders to try to shake her awake. This time he was rewarded by a low groan.

"Oh, did anyone catch the license of that truck..." Obviously Vulpix had gotten her bandana off.

"Vulpix! Are you okay?" Matt's voice was probably happier sounded than the situation merited.

"Yes, Matt," Vulpix said in a dry tone. "With the exception of being tied up and left under the one spot in this whole place that has a hole in the roof. This is torture."

"Tell me about it," Matt snorted. "Do you think whoever did this will be back?"

"I'm a fire type, Matt, not a psychic."

Matt sighed, "I know, but I thought you might have been conscious or something before I was."

"Or something? You are such a dork."

"Thank you, Ms. Congeniality." Matt said. Vulpix's words hurt though. He was just trying to be nice. "Do you remember anything? The last thing I thought I saw was Celerity."

"It wasn't Celerity," Vulpix said dismissively.

"How do you know?"

"Because she has a disgusting smelling scent," Vulpix said. "She should bathe more often."

Matt laughed, "That's called perfume, Vulpix!"

"No, I know what perfume is. If she thinks that's perfume, then she was ripped off." Vulpix paused, "No this human had a different scent, like cherry blossoms or something similar."

"Cherry blossoms..."

"Yes, that is what I said. Do you know of anyone who wears that scent? Or is there someone that would be out to abduct you and Cirrus?"

"Not that I know of," Matt frowned. "I couldn't imagine anyone would."

"Oh goodie, general kidnapping. Let's try to get free, I'm getting hungry."

Matt rolled his eyes, but complied.

Twenty minutes later...

"That's it," Matt said, standing up and rubbing his wrists. Vulpix also stood and stretched.

"We have to leave now." She said, turning for the door. "It took us too long to get free. We don't know if the person or persons will be returning. I don't want to be around to find out."

They walked to the door and Matt grabbed the handle. 

"Wait.." Vulpix held his hand still. "What if there is someone outside?"

"In this rain?" Matt shook his head. "I don't think there will be, and quite frankly, I don't care if there is. I'm angry enough to kick some bad guy ass."

Vulpix tilted her head and smiled. "Aaah, I see the resemblance to you and your sister. So sweet. Well, let's go."

Together, they burst through the door.

***

Boy I sure hope they make it out okay! What could be waiting for Brock and Vulpix on the other side of the door? _Is_ there anyone at all? And what about Gary? 

Mysteries abound when Sakura Messenger, the purple haired girl that Cirrus called her rival, shows up in the next chapter. It seems she's looking for someone and it isn't Cirrus. All this and more in the next chapter! 


	11. Chapter Ten Foolish

****

Hidden Journey  
Part Ten  
  
§  
  
Foolish

"As our lives change  
come whatever.  
We will still be   
friends forever."  
"Graduation" by _Vitamin C_

***

The duo burst from the door, the rickety thing flying off its hinges and landing with a crack, and they faced... 

"Well, if this isn't the biggest, meanest meadow in the world," Matt said dryly, noting the lack of evil kidnappers. 

"I know," Vulpix sighed. "And here I was so looking forward to a good fight. You wouldn't know of..." She broke off and began to scream. 

"What? What is it?" Matt spun around, looking for the cause of such a horrified scream. He dropped his hands and sighed when all he saw was Gary walking towards them. "You can stop screaming." 

"What? No I can't! It's horrifying!" Vulpix said, looking terrified as Gary advanced towards them. 

Gary ran the rest of the way, making his way to them, "Guys, where have you been?" 

"Oh, you know," Matt shrugged. "Kidnapped and tied up in an abandoned cabin, the usual." 

Gary frowned, "You were kidnapped? How?" 

"We scheduled early," Vulpix explained. "You know how difficult it is to get a good kidnapper." 

Matt nodded, "Yeah, all the good ones are booked so early these days." 

"Be serious!" Gary glared. "What happened?" 

"Sorry," Matt apologized, "Delayed shock reaction, I think. I really don't know what happened. The last I remember was that I had been trying to call Celerity, but someone hit me on the back of my head." He held a hand to the back of his head, feeling a bump. "I think it'll hurt later." 

"And I was about to go shopping," Vulpix frowned. "Someone snuck up behind me and put a smelly cloth over my muzzle...I'm sorry, _nose_, and I passed out." 

"Chloroform." Gary said. "Someone knew where you guys would be and how to do it, but why? It doesn't make any sense." 

"It looks like someone wanted us out of the way for some reason," Matt said, "but why? There's nothing of any importance at home." 

"Just some Pokemon," Vulpix reminded them. "Cirrus has some high level, and unusual, Pokemon." 

"Unusual, yes," Gary said, "But hardly enough to steal...Wait...There is one." 

"One what?" Vulpix asked. "Speak not in riddles, Oak." 

"The Cyndaquil." Gary said. "It's very...unusual." 

"Smart, is more like it." Matt said. "It knows how to write in english, and it's got an extremely high vocabulary." 

"But who would want a Cyndaquil?" Vulpix asked. "I'm pretty smart for a Pokemon, but you don't see people going around to steal me." 

"We'd better get back home," Matt said. "I don't like the thought of leaving the house without anyone in it. If they did take the Cyndaquil, then we know something's up." 

"Yeah," Gary said, "But what?" 

***

__

So far, my life has been composed of more twists and turns than a really good rollercoaster, I thought to myself, looking up with a mix of resignation and indignation. _But this is really _far_ too surreal, even for me._

Celerity stood over me, dangling a toy Weedle on a string. "C'mon Vulpix, good Vulpix." 

I blinked and looked away.

"C'mon cutie fire fox, bat the toy." The girl was not easily deterred and continued her singsong tone. "Who's the cute Vulpix? C'mon..."

"Celerity..." Ash said. "Don't taunt Vulpix."

"Why? Afraid she'd get caught in the line?"

"No...It's tacky," Ash stood up and took the toy from a protesting Celerity. "And she could flamethrow you."

"Oh," Celerity said, pouting. "Kay."

It was around four in the evening and I'd just found out that Brock was intending on entering me in some Pokemon Beauty Contest so he could return me..er, Vulpix...back to Suzie. However with Lia around, Brock wasn't so gaga over Suzie. Didn't really matter much since Suzie was currently gaga over some gorgeous sandy-haired guy. She'd shown us a photo of him and he looked a bit stuck up and had a Ninetales by his side.

"...Vulpix after the contest," Brock said.

"What's that?" Suzie asked, her tone teasing, "You'll only return Vulpix after you two win the contest?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Brock blushed. "Suzie."

"Brock, you're so funny!" Suzie giggled. "How about we enter together as a team? Would you like that, Vulpix?"

Taking that as my cue, I darted over to Suzie's side, tilted my head up to her, and cooed.

"That settles it then!" Suzie said, leaning down to scratch under my chin. "We're a team."

"A...a..team?" Brock stuttered. He blinked then leapt from the chair he sat in to kneel by Suzie's side. "Oh, Suzie! I'll make you so proud of Vulpix!" 

"I know you will, Brock," she said, sounding a bit sad. 

We were all in one of the common rooms in the Pokemon Center, waiting for Lia's Porygon. It had been suddenly exhausted for some reason and Brock insisted on Lia taking it to Nurse Joy. That meant Brock could get his daily Nurse Joy Spotting fix for the day, but for some reason he didn't space out when he saw the pink haired nurse. It was really odd. Could Brock actually have it bad for Lia?

"Okay guys," Lia said, coming up with a smile on her face. The Porygon hovered with its normal blank look, right behind Lia's right shoulder. "Anyone up for an early dinner?"

It wasn't until later that evening, around six, that things almost went horribly wrong for me. Brock and Suzie decided it would be good to check out the venue for the contest and they took me along. Suzie wanted to get a new Pokeball for me, but luckily Brock declined her offer. Even though Suzie would be getting Vulpix back after the contest, the woman agreed with Brock. He told Suzie that Vulpix's old Pokeball, while incredibly messed up thanks to the large woman on the train, would be back to new by the end of the week.

How did things almost go spiraling down? It seems that Vulpix has a close male foxy friend…and he very much liked her. No, nothing lemony about the relationship, but he was very taken with Vulpix. I couldn't really see why since Vulpix has the most obnoxious attitude. Okay, so I like Gary and he's got a total attitude, but that's my boy!

So there we were, looking around at the large indoor arena (the Blackthorne Convention Centre) and checking out the booths that were set up in adjoining rooms to the main area, when a male voice broke into Suzie and Brock's conversation.

"Hey, Suze!" The voice was male and cheery.

Suzie spun around on her heel. "Zane! It's good to see you!"

The two shared a quick hug, and Zane pecked Suzie on the cheek. "I didn't think I was going to make it! Cosmos forgot a few things."

Zane was just about as tall as Brock, with a slender build and sandy blonde hair that threatened to fall over his eyes. He looked to be around the same age as Brock and Suzie…and he looked interested in Suzie. If you know what I mean.

"Where is he?" Suzie asked, looking around Zane's feet. 

"He decided to stay behind in the hotel room to freshen up," Zane explained. "We literally just got to Blackthorne and checked into the hotel room. I see Vulpix is looking as fine as ever."

I took that as my cue to coo cutely up at the young man.

"She is," Suzie smiled. "Brock has been taking very good care of her."

"That's right!" Zane said. "You gave Vulpix to Brock, didn't you?"

"True, and he's decided to give her back." Suzie nodded. "Just after we win the contest."

"We?" Zane cocked an eyebrow. "You two are a couple?"

Brock's eyes widened and I thought he might have had a coronary, until Suzie laughed, a gentle sound, "Oh no, Zane! We've just teamed up for the contest!"

Brock's face fell faster than snow on cedars. 

"Well why don't we go and check out the area as a group?" Zane suggested. "Get to know the area."

Sighing deeply, I thought, _Not that there's much to see. I mean, you've seen one convention center set up for a Pokemon beauty contest and you've seen them all._

"Vulpix, why don't you go on up to the room?" Brock said, crouching down to ruffle the fur on my head. "You look tired."

Tired, bored, what's the difference? But I nodded anyway and walked towards the exit. I spared a look back to see the three walking off towards a grooming booth. With another sigh, I continued walking towards the exit. There were lots of free roaming Pokemon around, so it's not like someone would try to stop me. Two Machop were sparring with each other, a Bellosom was sighing in defeat as it seemed to be trying to teach a Bellsprout a dance move, and a Totodile was juggling five different colored pokeballs with its water gun attack.

__

Almost out, I thought tiredly, _ and then I can get back to the hotel and just sleep like a log._

"Vulpix!" A male voice called out. I almost turned to it, but there were a few Vulpix scattered around, so the voice could be for anyone of them.

__

I could even call for takeout. The vid-phone has a touch screen menu. What I'd give to sink my teeth into a nice steak. The thought cheered me up considerably.

"Vulpix! Hang on will you?" The voice sounded a bit annoyed this time, so it probably was a call for me. 

A quick look behind me had me blinking. A large, well-groomed Ninetales was trotting up to me. Its fur looked like the most luxuriant fur coat and it glistened as the Pokemon came closer. Red eyes sparkled with good health and its teeth were incredibly white.

"Were you calling me?" I asked with a confused tone.

"I don't see any other Vulpix around here!" He laughed, sitting on his haunches. With the two of us side to side, it was like comparing a cocker spaniel to a Great Dane.

"Not to be rude, but maybe you need your vision checked." I said, indicating the other Vulpix. "I'm not the only one here."

"That's my Vulpix, still snappy as ever." The male was not angered by my snide comment, merely laughed once again. "And you are the only one for me!"

"Excuse me, but this is not an episode of Love Connection," With a grand flourish of sweeping tales, I spun around aiming towards the exit. "And you, whoever you are, need to take your tales elsewhere."

"Whoever I am?" The male bounded in front of me like an over-exuberant puppy. "Vulpix, it's me, Cosmos!"

Okay, the name rang a bell from what that Zane guy said, I admit it, but I was a bit slow that night. Call it tired, a lack of food, whatever.

"That's nice, I'm glad you know your name." I brushed past him again. "But I am tired _and_ hungry, so get out of my way."

"You mean to say that you…don't remember me?" He cocked his head, red eyes quizzical. "Did you get hit on the head or something? We've been friends since we were kits!"

A chord struck deep within me, booming with an off-key sound. _Vulpix I will so demolish you for not giving me every detail of your life!! _ I seethed inwardly, realizing that these two must be really close, despite what seemed to be a constantly snooty attitude Vulpix had towards Cosmos. I had to fake something, but what? He'd quickly realize I wasn't Vulpix…and then what would happen?  


My mission would go down the drain, that's what would happen.

---

Gary, Matt, and Vulpix made their way back to the Blaine residence. There was a light on in the foyer, but Gary reassured them that he had left it on. Matt walked up to the door and opened it cautiously. When no one jumped out at them, the three went inside. Matt looked around and then asked, "Where did you last see Cirrus' pokeballs?"

"They were on the kitchen counter," Gary said, walking towards the kitchen. The chestnut haired male snapped the overhead lights on and sighed when all six Pokeballs were seen on the counter. "They look untouched."

Matt walked over and picked three up. "Only one way to tell."

Gary picked up the other three. "Outside? Or is the floor strong enough to hold up a Ponyta?"

"Here," Vulpix said. "Ponyta aren't as heavy as normal equines. They wouldn't be able to run as fast as they do if they were."

Without hesitation, the pokemon were called out and all six blinked up at the trio. 

"Cynda?" The cyndaquil asked, before jumping up onto the counter. "Cynda?"

"She wants to know what's going on," Vulpix said, taking interest in her fingernails. "She heard a person in here earlier, but didn't recognize the person."

"But was it a man or a woman?" Matt asked.

The Cyndaquil looked down at the other Pokemon. The Ponyta whinnied and tossed its head.

"The horse says that it was a woman." Vulpix said, not noticing the Ponyta's indignant snort. "And that she sounded young, about your ages."

"Great, we've got a young thief on our hands." Matt sighed.

"But she wasn't a thief," Gary noted. "Someone who broke into your house but didn't steal anything."

"She didn't break in," Vulpix spoke up. "There's no damage here. Whoever was here knew the inside of your house well enough to teleport in."

"But why?" Matt asked. "I just don't get it. Why teleport in and not take anything?"

"We should take this to Officer Jenny," Gary said. "She'd know what to tell us."

"What?" Vulpix snorted. "That someone teleported into your house, but didn't steal anything? Or that someone knocked us unconscious and tied us up in a cabin?"

"I was in a closet." Gary said.

"Oh," Vulpix grinned wickedly. "And that means that you came out."

Gary glared at Vulpix. "You knew what I meant!"

"Sure I did," Vulpix said easily. "It means you came out of the closet."

"You sure stepped in that one," Matt said. "Or should I say, out of that one!"

Gary glared at Matt. "Do shut up."

---

I apologize to the ten people that may have been interested in this story. It's been difficult to think of anything for any story lately, especially Hidden Journey and tO eXPLAIN iN dUE tIME. I'll be having Chapter ten of tedi up by the end of next week. 


	12. Chapter Eleven Something Always Holds M...

****

Hidden Journey  
Part Eleven  
  
§

Something Always Holds Me Back

"Well?" Cosmos asked, his presence almost overbearing.

Taking a step back, I glared up at him. "I said I'm tired and hungry, remember?"

"It was two seconds ago, how could I not?"

"Then would you please just step out of my way?" I demanded. "I want to go back to my hotel room."

To my surprise, he did step out of the way. With a shake of my head, I stalked past, finally on my way to the exit. Two of the young female Vulpix I passed gave me an envious glance that I mentally shrugged off.

The large double doors swung open as I walked up to them, as they were automatic doors, and I walked through and into the cool nighttime air. I had quickly learned that Blackthorne had a constant cool breeze to it, even when in the heat of summer. That was due to the Ice Caves north of the city. Even though it was only around 6:15 at night, the sky had darkened considerably.

Shivering slightly, I trotted down the sidewalk that lined the main street. The hotel was two blocks away and therefore pretty close to the convention center, though this late at night it was a little shady feeling. Coming from a world in which you really shouldn't walk alone at eleven at night sort of had me on edge no matter where I was, but I didn't want Old World fears to darken my current time here.

It was fun, despite being three feet tall.

A turn down the side street that I could've sworn led to the hotel turned out to be a dead end alley. 

"Geez, can I do one thing right?" I grumbled to myself.

"You could try us!" A raunchy male voice came from the shadows in front of me.

To my shock, four large Growlithe stepped from the side of a garbage dumpster. 

"Isn't this just my luck."

---

"Is there a reason we're just sitting here, watching television?" Vulpix asked with a sigh. She was sitting on the overstuffed recliner and eyeing the television as if it might jump up and bite her.

"No, no particular reason," Matt said, leaning back on the sofa. "Just hanging around."

"Watching the game, having a Bud," Gary said, sipping his soda.

Matt nodded, "True, true."

Vulpix rolled her eyes. "You humans are so infuriating."

The 'game' the three were watching was a rerun of last season's Orange League Games, on ESPLN. The championship match between Drake, the Orange Crew Leader, and Mikaia Dileralc of Celadon City. Even though both men knew that Drake won once again, they were studying the Orange Crew leader's strategy.

"Man, what I'd give for a Dragonite," Matt said wistfully.

"I know what you mean," Gary nodded from his spot on a matching recliner. "Powerful."

"Pathetic!" Vulpix snorted, standing up. "I'm going for a walk."

"Wait!" Matt spun around on the sofa, "What about the thief?"

"If there even is any thief, then I shall be more than capable of handling her myself," Vulpix said, her hand on the front door knob. "I'm more than able to handle surprises."

"Way to go, Buffy," Gary smirked. "Just make sure you come back in one piece."

Vulpix scowled. "I still don't like you, Oak."

"I still don't like you, too." Gary said, turning back to watch the game. "Ooh! That's what he did!"

Matt, torn between Vulpix and the game, said, "Take Cirrus' cell phone, okay? You know how to use it?"

Vulpix picked the slim lilac phone from the hallway table. "I know how to use it," She said, slipping it in the front pocket of her jeans. For once, she had dressed conservatively in a red tank top and blue jeans. A pair of Cirrus' old sneakers were on her feet, and her hair was pulled back in a french twist.

With a final look at the two guys, both of which were deeply engrossed in the game, the fire fox quietly slipped out the front door, closing it gently behind her. She paused on the front porch for a moment, taking a deep breath of the cool night air, and sighing. It was about 8:30 at night, two hours ahead of Blackthorne City.

"You better not be messing up, Cirrus."

---

"Well hi there!" I said, trying for a friendly approach. "How are you guys?"

"Are you for real?" The first asked, taking a step closer. He was a bit bigger than the others were. That and his stance told me he was more than likely the leader. "We're here for one thing and that's you, sweetcakes."

"Eeew," I muttered under my breath.

"We hoid that!" A scrawny one closest to the dumpster said. "We ain't happy wit yoise who won't cooperate."

"Is he speaking English?" I asked. "Because jeez, learn it if he isn't."

"Let's just cut down to business," The first said. "I'm getting first dibs on you and then my boys here get to fight over you."

The others snickered behind him, their eyes wide and reflecting what little street light made its way in the alley.

"Um, the stoneage ended millennia ago?" I said, backing up, "No one gets dibs on me. Especially not one of you street dogs."

"Oh ho ho!" The leader laughed. "We've got an ice princess on our paws!"

"Too good for the rest of us, huh Boss?" A slender one on the right of the leader said. His voice was oily and made me shudder in disgust.

"I suppose so!" The leader cocked his head. "But we'll melt her down soon enough."

"Somehow, I don't think so," A new voice broke in.

All four Growlithe spun around to face the newcomer. A large shadowy shape nearly filled the entrance of the alley, red eyes glowing menacingly, and…and all nine tales flared out.

"Cosmos…" I breathed.

"Now who do we have here?" The leader asked casually. "A boyfriend? Or are you her sugar daddy?"

"None of your business," Cosmos growled, "But even if I didn't know her I'd still have to fire spin your sorry carcasses to the great beyond."

"He's _threatening_ us!" The third Growlithe was shocked. "No one threatens the Growly Four!"

"Then be prepared for something new in your little miserable lives," Cosmos said, "Because today's the day someone does threaten you."

And that's when the fight started.

---

Vulpix walked through the thick foliage of the woods behind the Blaine residence. She was unafraid, despite the Urasaring episode. Those bears had been tagged and relocated, with the most recent report from the Pokemon watchers being that the bear pokemon had settled quite comfortably where they had been released. And that was far from civilization. 

She paused, looking around and taking in her surroundings. The stantler trail was worn in a way so that most humans would never notice it was even there. There was a light mist to the air, almost a fog but not overly thick lying, and it tickled her bare arms. It had not taken long for the fire fox to get used to and even enjoy the sensation of water on her borrowed skin. 

A twig snapped a ways behind her and Vulpix turned around, narrowed eyes scanning the area with a practiced ease. Trees, bushes, trail, a Weedle, more trees…Aah…there was the problem.

"Why are you following me?" She called out in a clear strong tone.

__

"Because I feel like talking," The answer came in a feminine tone and the speaker was revealed when she came onto the trail and stood before Vulpix. 

"The cyndaquil," Vulpix murmured. "I wondered when someone would come talking to me."

__

"I know you are not Cirrus and though I am curious as to how you became her, I shall wait until another time to ask," The small Pokemon leapt onto a boulder to be able to sit waist height to Vulpix. _"I want to know just who you are and what you are doing."_

"Do the other Pokemon know?"

__

"No, though the Umbreon senses something amiss." She cocked her head. _"So tell me why."_

"There was an accident at Professor Oak's lab," Vulpix began to retell the coverup story. "And…"

__

"Do not think that I am stupid," the Cyndaquil snorted. _"I know that is not a true story. Tell me the truth."_

Vulpix hesitated and then sighed. "Fine."

Twenty minutes later the story was told. The Cyndaquil, who had said her name was Xanady, sat back on the boulder, blinking. 

__

"That was a rather tall tale." The pokemon paused. _"But I believe it. I have seen too many odd things in my life time."_

"You're not a born Pokemon, are you?"

The Cyndaquil nodded. _"That's the truth. I was…given…this form as part of a bargin I made."_

"Why?"

__

"I wasn't the best human and I abused a lot of power. I ruined many lives." She paused. _"And I relished in it. Of course, it's no fun if someone else is in power. That's what will happen if what you said comes to pass."_

Vulpix nodded. "Team Rocket will be in control if Brock dies. It's not something I want to face and that's the only reason I agreed."

__

"You're very brave."

Vulpix shrugged. "Even though I've seen bad times before, things no human has ever known of, I don't remember anything of what you said. I suppose Mew and Mewtwo are very powerful."

The names seemed to perk up Xanady's attention. _"Have you seen either Mew?"_

"No," Vulpix said. "I was supposed to see Mew, but she wasn't around. Celebi was there instead."

__

"Celebi?? The time traveling Pokemon?" Xanady sat up as tall as she could. _"Tell me of it! Was it as powerful as I heard?"_

"Celebi is female and yes, she is that powerful." Vulpix tossed her head. "After all, she did this to me."

__

"Yes, but was she powerful?"

"My current situation isn't proof enough?" Vulpix rolled her eyes. "You're the super genius, you figure it out."

There was a lull in the conversation and Vulpix used the break to stretch. "We'd better head back. The humans will wonder where I've gone to."

She started walking away and heard the sound of Xanady following her. Vulpix decided to ask a nagging question. "Who freed you from your marble prison?"

Vulpix bit back the jolt of surprise she felt as Xanady leapt onto her shoulder and said, _"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."_

---

The swift violence of it all shocked me and I stepped back into the shadows. If I had any of Vulpix's powers or agility, I didn't know how to access them. Another convenient misconception of trading places. You don't become all knowing and powerful. Instead I watched uneasily as Cosmos viciously fought the four Growlithe.

They didn't have a snow-cone's chance on Moltres' back of winning, you could see that from the start. And yet, they fought back just as savagely as anything I'd ever seen. Almost as bad as…that fight in the meadow. It was horrible; I had to do _something_! But what?

The answer presented itself to me in the form of the runt of the group, and he was still taller than I was, as he ran towards me with fire in his eyes. Thoughts on what I should do raced through me at warp speed, but nothing made any sense. Bite, scratch, run, hide, go for the throat, trip him, anything! 

What I did seemed the simplest thing in the world.

I ducked.

The Growlithe flew right over my head and slammed into the garbage dumpster. I leapt to one side as a small heap of overflowing trash fell onto the stunned Pokemon. It was disgusting. It looked like one of the apartment tenants had a sick baby. At least, that's what the diaper hanging on one side of the Growlithe's head stated.

He shook it off with a growl of revulsion and stared me down, his snarl exposing a fierce display of pointy teeth. "Say your prayers, Foxy."

Ducking didn't seem like an option, so when he ran at me with that full display of teeth…pointy teeth, I did what he told me to. I sort of ducked and when he was a scant inch away, I threw up my head, hitting his lower jaw with the top of my head. I knew how much that hurt when Matt accidentally did that to me when we were kids, but it must've really hurt that Growlith.

Vulpix must have one seriously thick skull because I didn't feel a thing. However, I did see at least two sharp pointy teeth lying on the cemented ground. I looked up and saw the Growlith running in the opposite direction. He quickly met up with his buddies and they also abandoned their three on one fight with Cosmos and raised a dust trail on their way out.

Cosmos looked back and gasped. 

Smug was a great description of how I was feeling. I didn't even have to try to use one power and off the wimps ran. Not even Cosmos could achieve that.

"You better run, you sissies!" I laughed, taking a few steps towards Cosmos. "How about that? No violence needed to subdue those runts."

But Cosmos was, as it turns out, looking _behind_ me.

"What? There's nothing there!" I said, starting to turn around. "I should know since I was cornered…there…by myself…"

Only when I turned around, it wasn't empty. It was very much populated by one very large, very menacing looking Pokemon.

The Houndoom threw back its head and howled, an eerie undulating sound that bounced off the close quarters of the alley.

---

Ooh! Who's that Pokemon?! How did that Houndoom get back there without anyone noticing? How will Cosmos and Cirrus get out of this one?


	13. Chapter Twelve Pressure

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been ages since I posted. I was hit by serious writer's block. Due to a lot of very much appreciated nagging by friends and readers, I've dragged Cirrus and her story back up onto the olde computer. I know that a LOT has happened in the pokemon realm since I last posted a new chapter. I intend to use some of that (characters/pokemon/storylines), but not all of it.

I shall not mention my irritation with the replacement voice actors.

It's been a while since I've written Cirrus, so I hope that I haven't lost my touch. I will be updating this story fairly regularly. I won't post one new chapter and then nothing. I fully intend on finishing her story.

Since it has been so very long, I should mention the ages of the characters. I'm going by what I think is right, but I don't know for sure so the ages are pretty much just approximations. If anyone knows the exact ages, please let me know! I'd very much appreciate it. Google only takes me so far :)

Ash 17  
Gary 17  
Misty 18  
Brock 24  
Lia - 22  
Matt - 23

I also wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or alerted my story ^_^ Reviews are love from readers, but chapters are love from authors. Please know that I eagerly read each review and it's your encouragement that keeps me writing! :)

* * *

**Hidden Journey Chapter 12 - Pressure**

I can feel a phoenix inside of me  
As I march alone to a different beat  
Slowly swallowing down my fear

Katy Perry - "Who am I living for?"

* * *

If I had hands, they'd be sweating. Here I was, facing down a pissed off houndoom and a confused looking ninetales, and I knew I was on very thin ice. But what could I do? I was sworn by those who sent me on this mission to _not_ break the disguise. I couldn't tell _anyone _that I was a human!

The rumble of the houndoom's growls were as loud in my ears as an approaching thunderstorm. This pokemon had serious volume to his anger and he had the powers to back up his threat. I took no comfort in the fact that the pokemon was pissed off at me. _Just _me. No one else.

Cosmos hesitantly spoke up. "Major, with all due respect, sir, I think we should relocate to a more secure location."

The growling slowly subsided. After a tense moment, the houndoom gave a curt nod. "You are correct, agent. An alley is hardly the place for this kind of situation." He glared down the length of his muzzle at me. "_You_will follow me." He looked over at Cosmos. "Agent, you will follow her. If she even tries to escape, you will do what is necessary to prevent that."

Panic coursed through me. No _way _did I want to go anywhere with them!

The imposing pokemon strode confidently by me. His voice was deep and commanding. "Do not try to escape. What happens to you, should you attempt an escape, will be quite unpleasant."

Cosmos, of the glimmering white fur, nudged me gently with a forepaw. When I looked up at him, he nodded in a reassuring manner.

Despite this epic fail attempt at reassuring me, all I wanted to do was to run. Not back to the Pokemon center, not back to Brock, not even to the nearest mall.

I wanted to run home to be with Gary.

For crying out loud, I'm only seventeen. I want to be home with my boyfriend and complain about homework. I want to snuggle up next to him with a mug of hot chocolate from _Starbucks_.

They don't even _**have**_ a _Starbucks _here.

Holy cow. I was gonna have a mental breakdown over hot chocolate.

Well, not just from that. There was the crazy houndoom who looked as if he'd be very happy to kill me, the fact that Brock's life seemed to hang on my stealth and awe inspiring spy abilities (which were also fast slipping under the phrase "Epic Fail"), and I had the spirit…essence…_whatever_ of Vulpix being in _my _body! This feels like the biggest lose-lose (as opposed to win-win) that I've ever experienced. I mean, this bypasses Xanady and her stupid "let's turn everyone but me into a pokemon so I can rule the world as the only human left!" scheme.

Which, by the way, was really stupid. Turn everyone into pokemon but herself? She's so smart she's stupid.

Cosmos nudged me again, a little less gently than before, and I looked up to see the houndoom glaring at me. _Again_. Anger flowed from him in almost palpable waves. I typically found humor to be the best at turning any nervousness or fears into something I could manage, but this didn't seem to be the best time to try that. I figured the first joke I cracked would result in Mister Big, Dark, and Pissy snapping my neck.

Holding back a sigh of resignation, I followed the lean pokemon. The only indication I had of Cosmos following me was a sense of concentrated heat behind me. I didn't dare turn to look back.

Wouldn't want to give the houndoom any excuse to kill me.

* * *

The Blaine house was quiet. Although the two males had said where they were going and what they were doing, Vulpix had paid them little attention. To pass the time, as it was very boring being Cirrus, the firefox had decided to use the computer in the dining room. She had seen Matt using the computer, and she had seen Brock using one before, but obviously she had never had the opportunity to use a computer.

Vulpix stared at the monitor and scowled at it. For the last twenty minutes she had been attempting to access the humans' internet but had been unsuccessful.

The firefox was not used to being anything _but_ successful and to be defeated by a human invention was downright insulting.

"You okay there?"

Tossing blonde fur, er, hair, Vulpix looked over her shoulder to see Cirrus' brother, Matt, leaning down to see what she was attempting to do. "Do not watch what I am doing."

"Yeah, because you're really getting far," Matt grinned. "Especially since you haven't gotten further than the homepage."

The humans had set up a computer area in what they called a 'dining room' where there was also a square table surrounded by six chairs. Matt had repeatedly tried to get Vulpix to eat at that table, but the firefox refused. It was her own habit to eat in private.

Vulpix redirected her irritated glare from the computer to the human. "Is there _anything_ better to do?" She shrugged. "I mean, is there anything worthwhile that you humans do, or do you just putter around all day?"

"Uh..." Matt dragged over a chair from the dining room table and slumped in it in a contortion that made Vulpix's borrowed back wince in sympathy. "Well, you can do whatever you want to do. Most kids either go to school or travel as trainers, but I guess you know that part. Other people, especially adults, have jobs, but Cirrus doesn't have one. We haven't had time to discuss school, but I guess she trains when she's not getting herself in trouble."

"So you would say that getting in trouble is her full time job?"

Matt snickered. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Well that is not _**my**_ job," Vulpix countered with a bit of irritation.

"Whoa, okay, sorry," Matt had paled a little. "So, uh, what do you, um, _did_ you do?"

Vulpix grinned in a very spooky un-Cirrus-like manner. If she had been her normal self, it would be a baring of very sharp teeth. "I am a spy."

"A whaaaa?" Matt snorted in disbelief. "No way."

"Of course I am," Vulpix said haughtily. "And I am one of the best."

"You mean spy like...like undercover stuff, stealing secrets, uh...like that?"

Vulpix stared at him. "I see exactly how you and Cirrus are related."

Matt scowled. "And that's supposed to mean what?"

"Exactly that." Vulpix sighed. "So what you're telling me is that there is nothing that I can do this entire time until your sister is done saving the world?"

"I...yes?"

"Think of something, or I will." Vulpix stretched her arms. "You really don't want me to be bored."

"I thought you were already bored."

The firefox glared at the human. "I'm frustrated and annoyed. I'm not yet bored. Pray to whatever deity you pray to that I do not reach bored."

Matt gulped but nodded. "O...okay, I'll see what I can come up with."

"Good."

* * *

We ended up in a rank motel room.

No, I'm totally kidding!

And anyway, my luck wouldn't have us ending up at a human establishment. We weren't even in a building of any kind. We were met by four other pokemon on our way to the location. Two spearow, an umbreon, and a mightyena. Those four were to be the perimeter guards, while I was being interrogated by the houndoom and Cosmos.

It turned out that the ninetales wasn't just some pretty boy that showed up at pokemon contests. When my odd replies had piqued his instincts, Cosmos had gotten in touch with his commander, who in turn notified the leader of the agencies branch here in Blackthorn, aka Major Happy Puppy, aka Major. Yeah, his name is Major. I'd tack on "pain in my ass," but again, I don't want to be killed just yet.

"I'll ask you once again," Major sounded angry and irritated. "_Who _sent you?"

The interrogation room wasn't a cold cement room with a two way mirror. There was no angry cop leaning over me while I sweated out my nerves. What there was was a small clearing in the forest just outside of Blackthorn. I don't know how far, per se, but we did walk for nearly an hour. Okay, yeah, I don't have a watch so I don't know how long it took, but it felt like it was nearly an hour.

He leaned closer to me. "Why are you stalling?"

I blinked once and spoke for the first time since the alley. "You have _beautiful _eyes."

The houndoom jerked back in shock, then growled and snapped his jaws at me.

It might have been my relatively short stature, or maybe my weirdly shaped ears just heard things differently, but his jaws sounded like someone slamming a door shut. A really heavy door.

Frustrated, the houndoom faced Cosmos. "She looks vulpine but smells human. She used none of her powers, nor any of the skills and techniques she's spent years learning, during that fight." He snorted angrily. "And now she seems to be stalling! I want to know what, in Arceus' name, she is and why she is here."

Arceus? The name was another mystery. Honestly, I was waiting to see if Mew, Mewtwo, or Celebi would show up. Clear up this mess. I was fast feeling like I was in way over my head.

What I really wanted was for one of them to save me from this really angry pokemon and his rows of razor sharp teeth which looked to be very interested in digging deep into the flesh of my neck and snapping it.

If I had to clear this mess up myself, things would be going south in a very pretty handbasket, if you know what I mean.

Those pokemon, especially Mew, had been quite firm in one thing: Tell No One.

But I didn't know _what_ I could or couldn't say. Didn't know _who_ was safe to talk to, _who _I could confide in with even in the tiniest bit of information. I knew Vulpix was a secret agent in this secret organization, but not much more.

What if I told these two pokemon the truth and I wasn't supposed to? What if they went nuts and didn't believe me? What if they _did _believe me?

Frustration welled in me. I wasn't given enough time to be fully instructed in what I had to do. I don't know….what to do…what not to do…And I didn't really want to do this anymore. I just wanted to go home and let someone else do this.

Stuck…I was stuck here. Stuck on four paws, in someone else's body, in someone else's species.

I seriously just wanted an hour to break down and cry my eyes out.

Breakdown, thy name is mine.

"What are you so afraid of?"

Cosmos' soft voice had me a little startled. Almost at a loss for words, I looked up at him and saw he was very close to me. I could whisper and he'd hear it. Stupidly, I blurted out, "Everything."

His eyes widened a fraction. "If you were who you said you were, you would _never _admit that."

Major, who was standing a short distance from us, sighed. "I will not wait any longer on your foolish stalling. If you will not tell us, I will resort to having a psychic take the information from you."

My jaw gaped for a second, then fear mixed with outrage. "You can't do that! It's an invasion of privacy!"

"Privacy was signed away when you joined this organization, _agent_." The last word was scathingly said by Major. "Which is something any true agent knows." He narrowed his eyes. "You may look like her, smell a little like her, but you are _not_ her." His upper lip curled and I swore I saw flames glowing in his mouth. Lapping eagerly around his teeth. "_**Imposter**_."

My mouth went dry. "I…I just…"

Crap it all. I'm just the person assigned by a bunch of Legendary pokemon to save a human whose death could bring the end of the world as we know it. That's all.

But I couldn't say that!

The two large pokemon crowded closer to me. One was tall and menacing. The other was tall and wary. Both brimmed with energy, with powers. It was too much.

"Yes?" The irritated houndoom snapped, snarled. "Out with it! We haven't all day, insolent pup!"

Suddenly I felt like I was standing at the edge of a canyon. Vertigo, a touch of that sensation of the floor dropping out from under your feet. It was like when you're standing at a balcony at a mall and you look over and can see people walking underneath you, and you feel stupid dizzy even though you know you're safe.

My heart sped up and I felt really lightheaded. I wanted to scream when I saw the houndoom, apparently at the edge of his mental rope, suddenly lunge at me.

Darkness edged my vision and I heard him swear. Stupidly I wondered how he knew human swear words.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Vulpix stood in place and glared at Matt and Gary. The two guys exchanged looks, not sure why the currently human firefox was staring so intently at them. Around them, people walked and chatted. Some carried bags, others had pokemon by their sides, but everyone seemed to be enjoying the warm sunny day.

Everyone except Vulpix.

"Uh," Matt ventured hesitantly, "just what are you doing?"

"I'm thinking the both of you should be very glad that I don't have any of my powers," Vulpix's eyes were narrowed. "Because what I really want to do is flamethrow each of you for a very long time."

Gary scowled. "That's not really...nice."

"Extra crispy humans. Lots of fire." Vulpix smiled. "Oh, how I miss my fire powers."

"But you're a girl so..."

"I am _**not**_ a girl!" Vulpix seethed at them. She stormed closer to them so that she was in arm's length of both. "I am very much _not_ a girl and it would do the two of you a world of good to continue to remember that!"

"What he means to say is that since you're a _female_, we thought you'd enjoy some shopping," Gary said as smoothly as he could. He wasn't exempt from the anger emanating from what had been his girlfriend. His mind rushed through a number of scenarios, none of which seemed to end well for him, so he settled on the one that would theoretically leave him with the least amount of physical pain. "And being female, we figured that since shopping was a natural past time of most females, regardless of species, that you might have some fun...er...shopping..."

It was reluctantly that Vulpix sighed. She knew that the two humans were doing their best in trying to ease her boredom, but they weren't thinking of her as a pokemon. They were thinking of her as a human.

"Allow me to clue you in on something." She motioned for them to come a little closer. "Come here. I promise I won't bite."

Their instincts screamed for them to run away, but they edged a little closer.

"Do not _ever_ think of me as a human. I do _not_ like shopping. I do _not_ like mingling with other humans." She eyed a blonde teenaged human walking by with her arms full of shopping bags. "And I certainly do not find any sort of enjoyment in mixing the latter two things together."

"Sorry," Gary said, and actually sounded as if he meant it. "Cirrus likes shopping, and I figured since you were...you know...here, that you might like it too."

"I'm not...you know...here on vacation, nor is this voluntary," the firefox hissed out, then took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "If it were up to me, I'd be the one saving Brock, not your mate."

"So what do you want to do?" Matt ventured, while ignoring Vulpix's 'mate' terminology for describing Cirrus to Gary. "I mean, do you want to do anything? What stuff do you like doing?"

Utterly mindful of the people walking around them, Vulpix smiled. "I want to blow something up. A lot of somethings, actually."

* * *

_:Cirrus, you __**silly**__ human.:  
_  
Mew's voice floated through the darkness that was all I was experiencing. However, her voice was steady and clear. She'd obviously gotten over whatever cold had bothered her. I struggled to put together other thoughts. I needed to know…

Needed…

_:It's too late for that, I'm afraid.: _The voice was kind and tender, which made me want to cry. _:They already had an Espeon scan you.:_ The voice turned wry. _:I hadn't expected this kind of a thing to happen. My bad.:_

_Mew?_

:Don't try to talk or you'll wake up. I already cleared things with the big boss. You're not in trouble now that these pokemon know.:

_**You're** not the big boss?_

My mind had a little trouble with that. Mew was the most powerful pokemon I knew.

_:Thank you for the compliment.: _A pause_. :No, there is…another. Worry not, okay? Besides Vulpix has already been cornered by Xanady. So she knows…some of it.:_

Instant fear. _What? How much?_

_:Not all of it and certainly not the important parts of it. Xanady will be on her best behavior and she knows the repercussions if she isn't. The second she tries anything, she's going back to being someone's lawn ornament.:_

A deep sigh. _T__hey're going to wake you soon. Any other questions?:_

_Who is Arceus?_

_:Oh my…:_

Another sigh. _:He's…a big boss.:_

Oh.

My turn to pause. _How can I get in touch with you if something like this happens again?_

_:You can't, Cirrus. I'm meant to observe, not interfere. This is your mission, not mine.:_

_But…!_

I felt a nudge, like someone tapping my shoulder. It was annoying, but I figured I had to hurry. If this was all the time I had with Mew… _What if this happens again?_

_:It won't.:_

The nudge became a shove and my surroundings got brighter.

_:I'll keep an eye on you…but most likely you won't see me for a while.:_ When she spoke next it was fainter. _:Farewell, Cirrus…farewell…:_

And then I was fully awake. My eyes shot open and I winced when the first thing I saw was a bright overhead light. I squeezed my eyes shut against the glare and tried to sense other things. It felt like I was laying on my back, but in my current body that would be very vulnerable. My tails didn't hurt, but my mind hurt too much to even think about what happened to it.

"She's awake!" The voice was light and really chirpy. "Shard, get that light out of here! Her eyes must be hurting."

The light was pulled away and from behind my closed eyelids I could tell there was more natural lighting. I warily opened my eyes again and was met by an odd sight.

Indoors. I was seriously indoors, in some building of some sort. I saw a ceiling, walls painted a light grey, and an assortment of medical equipment, including an annoying lamp on a swivel arm.

"Where am I?" My voice was a little raspy. When I tried to move, as I was feeling both awkward and vulnerable, I realized I was on a table and I didn't like it at all. I felt like a science experiment about to be dissected and I wanted out of here. But I couldn't move and I felt a flash of panic. "What the…"

"Shh, don't try moving just yet," the voice said soothingly. "They tied you down because you were thrashing. There are bands around your shoulders and haunches. Kind of like a harness."

"I don't care what it's like!" I pulled at the restraints with no success. Panic rose. "Please…I'm claustrophobic!"

"Oh dear," the voice sharpened out of cutsey and chirpy. "Shard, go get Murielle!"

There was a bit of muttering that pierced my growing anxiety that sounded roughly like, _I'm not a freaking messenger_, but I heard the fast tick of claws on tile as whatever or whoever Shard was left the room.

"Just try to stay calm, okay?"

"That's what I'm trying to do!" My words were a fast snap, like that overacting houndoom's jaws. The chirpy happy pokemon's words had not calmed me at all. They reinforced the fear I felt. The back of my throat burned from it.

The voice, for the speaker wasn't in my field of vision, somehow thought something was wrong with me other than claustrophobia. "Oh _please_ don't do that!" She sounded worried and afraid all at once. "I don't want to shock you, but I _will _if you can't control your fire!"

Her words barely registered. Fire? What fire? She must mean the fire of my desire to get the hell out of these restraints. I was more than happy to go against her wishes.

Just as I was redoubling my struggling, right when my throat began to really hurt, I heard those claws on tile, followed by a lighter padding on the floor. Shard returning with the mysterious Murielle?

The burning slowly began trickling up. It wanted out and an idiotic part of me worried that I was gonna throw up. But I was still on my back. No way did I want to have what was thrown up go right back down. My stomach clenched and my throat burned more.

_:Settle down!: _The voice in my mind was light and feminine and somewhat aghast.

_Mew?_

The burning crept closer to my mouth in an incredibly slow manner. In a moment of clarity, it reminded me of a volcano documentary I'd watched once. Lava crept slow like that, not vomit. Then my mind clouded again and the memory was lost.

"Murielle…if you could just…you know."  
_  
:Of course.: _The telepathic voice was soft, gentle, yet firm.

I wanted to demand that these creeps let me go. My fear was fast mingling with anger. But when I opened my mouth, I could feel heat trickling down my lower jaw. It was like when you open a freezer to get ice cream but it's the middle of a hot summer day and all that white foggy stuff slowly falls out of the open freezer and then your mom yells at you to shut the damned door…

"Her mind is a jumbled mess!" Murielle spoke out loud. "I've never heard such abstract thoughts!"

_Stay out of my mind!_

And quite abruptly, everything went black.

Again.

* * *

"Okay," Gary said wearily. "This is the _last_ place we're taking you to. If you don't like this place, you can find your own freaking entertainment."

"Well, it looks better than the last place." Vulpix looked over the building with a critical eye. "But I don't know. You two lack in knowing how to please a female."

Matt groaned. "My sister was never this difficult to keep entertained. Not even when she was little."

"I'm not..."

"My sister," Matt finished the line. "I know, I know."

"Do not irritate me, human," Vulpix huffed.

"Yeah, we've heard that one before, too," Gary snorted. "I almost prefer having you two get switched back. There's only so much Vulpix-tude I can take."

"Like you're one to talk," Matt rolled his eyes. "Your ego is so huge it can be seen from space."

Gary snapped back, "Well you..."

"If you two girls want to continue your hissy fit, have at it," Vulpix said with a smirk. "I'm going inside that building to see what they offer. If either of you wish to join me, you may."

Gary gaped a little at Vulpix, but she was already striding up the walkway of the building. "She's gonna be the death of me. I just know it."

Matt nodded. "You and me both, bro."

"Don't call me bro." Gary eyed Cirrus' brother. "You and me, we're not bro's by a longshot."

"We could be if you and my sister get any deeper in your relationship," Matt grinned, completely unperturbed by Gary's comment and how he said it. In taking advantage of teasing Gary, he conveniently forgot the earlier 'mate' issue. Almost.

Gary snorted. "Yeah, if she ever stops trying to save everyone."

"She saved _you_."

The chestnut haired teen sighed. "Yah."

"You, uh, you ever thank her for that?"

Gary stalked off after Vulpix without answering.

Matt shook his head. "Thought so." He followed Gary and Vulpix, who had disappeared into the building. The previous establishments they had visited to try to alleviate Vulpix's boredom had been a dojo of some sort, then a rock-wall climbing place, and a ziplining fun center. All of which had been shot down swiftly.

This current building, innocent looking as it was, housed an indoor shooting facility. Training people how to shoot, be it for defense or hunting, along with a shop that sold firearms and ammunition. To be honest, Matt had been surprised to find a target range in this dimension. But when he had questioned Gary about it, the other teen had looked taken aback.

_"Of __**course**__ we have guns," _Gary had said dismissively. _"There are strict regulations about who can and can't own a gun, but of course there are guns."_

And that had been that. The suggestion of going to a shooting range had been half jest and half serious. Matt hadn't expected that Vulpix would show any interest, but she had very much shown interest.

And so they were here.

"I _really _hope she likes this place," Matt muttered. "Cuz I'm getting tired of trying to be a mind reader."

* * *

Once, Gary and I had gone on a picnic. It was a lot of fun, right up by Lake Verity. Day trips with Gary could be fun. Eh, and sometimes they could be annoying if his ego got in the way, but usually they were a blast.

"There's another lake," Gary said nonchalantly, as he doused a hot dog with ketchup.

"What's it called?" I was curious. "Is it pretty?"

"It's called the Lake of Rage." Gary bit into half the hotdog. "These are good, you should have one."

"Later," I waved him off. "Back to the lake. Why's it called that?"

"Named after the red gyarados that lives there."

"Shut up," I snorted. "That's stupid."

He smirked, and after downing the rest of the hotdog in a second bite, he shrugged. "That's what Gramps told me."

I made a face at him. "Gross, Oak. I _don't _want to see what you're eating."

Gary rolled his eyes, but complied with a deep gulp of his soda. "I thought you liked seafood."

"Leave the puns to me," I lobbed a cookie at him, which he infuriatingly caught with one hand. "You just keep on with that arrogant act. You're a pro at it."

"Actually it's a talent genetically gifted to me. Don't like it, talk to my dna."

"So what about the lake?" I didn't bother hiding my irritation.

"Oh that," Gary shrugged in a way that rippled his silky white fur. "Gramps told me that…"

White…_fur_?

I blinked, but his form shifted from human to not, before settling for…not. An arrogant looking pokemon stared at me, standing nearly eye to eye with me. A big bushy tail flicked in irritation and it dawned on me that he looked like a big white squirrel. I didn't know what kind of a pokemon my own boyfriend was.

"Cirrus?"

I looked down at my own russet colored fur and blinked.

Then I noticed that my surroundings had changed again. Dramatically so. The forest our picnic was in changed and became a room. Walls were painted a muted yellow that wasn't highlighter yellow, but wasn't that fake cheery shade that made you want to puke when you saw it.

It was also quiet. _Too _quiet.

Memories of the claustrophobia inducing restraints almost swamped me. I hesitantly moved all my limbs and found them unhindered. I was still a vulpix, but I wouldn't have to freak out again. Namely because I discovered then that I was laying on my side. Stretching slightly, I took note of new soreness in my chest, er, ribs, and wondered at it. Why were they sore?

Frankly it didn't matter at this time. Whether it was from the restraints or something else, that was a moot point. Awareness was dawning that I'd woken up in a strange room after being kidnapped by a houndoom and a ninetales.

_Brock!_

Ice chilled my blood. My eyes darted to look around my surroundings. Dresser, small flat screen tv hanging above the dresser, window, another (empty) bed, small table, my bed, two doors…

Otherwise describing a typical pokemon center or hospital room. A plus being that all the furniture was human scale. A minus being that I didn't know _where _I was.

Xanady tinted memories surfaced, though I tried to tap them down. I knew Xanady wouldn't be able to hurt me again, but waking up alone like this hadn't ended up well for me in the past. Why should now be different?

Crap. What if things were _already _messed up beyond repair?

The dream I had with Gary was freaking weird. A weird dream that merged an actual memory with my current predicament. I wasn't sure why I dreamed of that squirrel pokemon, but I'd been a vulpix in my dream. Anyway, I was pretty sure Gary wasn't a white furry squirrel in his spare time.

Just then the door to the room opened. I debated between faking being asleep or just being awake. I picked option number two and looked to see if it was friend or foe. If it was foe, I'd try my best to outfight and escape.

It seemed to be both. Cosmos strode in, followed by a tall human. I was filled with an insane mix of relief and happiness when I saw that the human was Brock. I struggled to get to my feet, but I was overwhelmed by sudden dizziness and I sank onto the bed.

Brock rushed by Cosmos. "Hey, take it easy, Vulpix. You're gonna be okay."

I know how silly this sounds, but I felt _safe_. And when Brock sat on the bed next to me, I felt less dizzy. He picked me up, ever so gently, and hugged me for a second before placing me on his lap. He ran a strong hand along my back, which was really soothing. All my worries and fears melted away.

"Yeah, it's okay," Brock's voice was a calming rumble. "You gave me a pretty big scare, but you're safe now."

We sat there for a little while. Cosmos sat on the floor near Brock's feet. He looked innocent enough, but considering what happened to me, I wasn't trusting him at all. Screw whatever history Vulpix has or had with him. He was shady.

Of course, my time of feeling safe with Brock couldn't last forever. Eventually there was a tap at the door, a Nurse Joy peered in and said something I didn't bother listening to, and Brock stood up with me in hand. Well, Brock held me in his arms, snug but not too tight, with his left arm cradled under my body. His right arm was free to open the door for himself and Cosmos.

His heartbeat was comforting to me. I listened to its steady pace as he walked down the short corridor. It wasn't a huge surprise to me when the lobby we walked into was of the pokemon center. But no one else was here that I knew, so I wasn't sure what Cosmos was doing here.

To my surprise, he trotted out of the center itself altogether. I looked up at Brock, not really expecting a response and surprised further when I got one.

"He's going back to Zane," Brock smiled down at me. "He might look like a tough ninetales, but he was worried about you."

I snorted softly at that.

"He found you in an alley," Brock nodded to the nurse on duty at the front desk as we walked by. "There were a couple of passed out growlithe as well. Looked like there was a bit of a fight." He tsked down at me and gently rubbed me on the top of my head. "What were you doing there, you silly little thing?"

_I was abducted by two frightening pokemon and held against my will in a claustrophobic nightmare. _

This time I sighed and wished more than ever that I could speak in a way he could understand. It would really make things so much easier.

* * *

Huzzah, I'm back! I know a lot of people probably wrote this off as a dead fic, but I'm not letting this story reach that status. I hate it when I read a story I get into and then find out that it's been abandoned. Rest assured that Cirrus and her story will not be abandoned.

Okay, I threw in guns into my story. I couldn't think of anything else that could impress a fire pokemon in a human's body, especially when she said she wanted to blow stuff up. By the way, she wasn't kidding. Anyway, I know guns aren't really found all that much in the pokemon world, but I figured that if Team Rocket could have all the blowing up stuff they have, that my little mention of a gun shooting range place is no big deal.

I hope this chapter was enjoyed. I had fun writing it!


End file.
